

'y^^^yu 



A FIRST COURSE IN 
AMERICAN HISTORY 



BY 

JEANNETTE RECTOR HODGDON 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 

1911 



Copyright, 1908 anb 1911, 
By D. C. heath & COMPANY. 



CCI.A280433 



PREFACE 

Probably the majority of people, young and old, prefer 
to study history through the lives of the men who made it. 
For this reason A First Course in American History 
has been written in the form of biographies. The book 
is intended primarily for use as the class text in inter- 
mediate grades, and care has been taken to cover quite 
thoroughly the more progressive elementary courses of 
history study. It is hoped that children will also find the 
stories interesting for supplementary reading, and for 
general reading at home. 

One of our best historians has said : " In the teaching 
of history the pupil's mind should not be treated as a 
mere lifeless receptacle for facts ; the main thing is to 
arouse his interest and stimulate his faculties to healthful 
exercise." If this book helps to inspire enthusiasm for 
patient effort and noble deeds and awakens interest in a 
further study of history, it will have served its purpose. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Christopher Columbus 2 

II. Fernando de Soto and other Spanish Explorers 20 

III. John Cabot 32 

IV. Sir FRANcis Drake 39 

V. Sir Walter Raleigh 50 

VI. John Smith 60 

VII. Pocahontas and the Indians 71 

VIII. Miles Standish and the Pilgrims .... 83 

iX. John Winthrop and the Puritans. ... 98 

X. Henry Hudson .* . no 

XI. Peter Stuyvesant 119 

XII. Samuel de Champlain and other French Dis- 
coverers 129 

XIII. Robert de La Salle 142 

XIV. Lord Baltimore 157 

XV. William Penn and the Quakers . . . .167 

XVI. James Oglethorpe 180 

XVII. King Philip 189 

XVIII. Nathaniel Bacon ....... 200 

XIX. Benjamin Franklin ....... 210 

XX. Louis Montcalm 225 

V 



vi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXI. James Wolfe 239 

XXII. Patrick Henry 249 

XXIII. Samuel Adams 264 

XXIV. George Washington 284 

XXV. Philip Schuyler 315 

XXVI. Nathanael Greene 330 

XXVII. John Paul Jones 342 

XXVIII. Gilbert Motier de Lafayette .... 356 

Pronouncing Vocabulary 363 

Index 365 



A FIRST COURSE IN 
AMERICAN HISTORY 



I. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 

Born about 1436 — Died 1506 

They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate : 
" This mad sea shows his teeth to-night. 
He curls his hp, he lies in wait 
With lifted teeth as if to bite. 
Brave Admiral, say but one good word : 
What shall we do when hope is gone? " 
The words leapt like a leaping sword : 

" Sail on ! sail on ! sail on ! and on ! " 

Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, 
And pierced through darkness. Oh, that night 
Of all dark nights. And then a speck — 
A light ! A light ! A light ! A light ! 
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled. 
It grew to be Time's burst of dawn. 
He gained a world ; he gave that world 

Its grandest lesson : On ! sail on ! 

— Joaquin Miller's "Columbus." 

In order to understand how Columbus came to 
undertake his great voyage which led to the dis- • 
covery of our New World in 1492, we must learn 
of the condition of affairs in Europe at that 
time. 

Four hundred years ago people in Italy, Spain, 
Portugal, England, and France were beginning to 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 3 

take a new interest in travel and commerce. This 
was largely due to the invention of printing, which 
made it easier to obtain books. Reading thus 
became more general, and the printed stories of 
other lands, such as Marco Polo's book, aroused 
interest and a desire for further knowledge. 

This newly awakened interest was due also to 
the invention of the mariner's compass, an instru- 
ment which enables seamen always to know the 
direction in which they are sailing. The compass 
is a magnetized bar of steel, called the needle, 
with its center resting on an upright pivot. The 
pivot is secured to the bottom of a round box, 
which is provided with a glass top to protect the 
needle. As the needle always points to the north, 
mariners are able to tell the direc- 
tion in which they are sailing, and 
to steer their ships in the proper 
course. With the aid of the com- 
pass, and with a map giving a 

picture of the land and water on Mariner's Compass 

the earth's surface, a sailor felt well equipped for his 
voyage. 

So it came about that the nations grew more 
interested in far-away countries, and in the exchange 
of goods between other lands and their own. They 
were eager to seize every opportunity to travel, and 
to find new routes between Europe and Asia. 
Above all, they were anxious to find a new and 




4 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

easier way to India and China, whence caravans 
had for many years brought jewels, costly shawls, 
silks, spices, and ivory. 

Genoa and Venice were the two great commer- 
cial centers of Italy. They sent each year into the 
East large quantities of laces, velvets, corals, and 
other goods. There were three routes of travel : 
one by way of the Black and Caspian seas, another 
through Syria and the Persian Gulf, and a third by 
way of the Red Sea. But when Constantinople fell 
into the hands of the robber Turks, these dangerous 
people closed many of the old roads of travel. 
Europe then found herself cut off from the rich 
eastern trade. 

Portugal was one of the first countries to try to 
find a way that would' be free from the Turks. 
These plunderers had no conscience about way- 
laying men engaged in carrying goods across the 
continent, and would steal everything they could 
lay hands upon. Prince Henry of Portugal, the 
Prince of Navigators, encouraged the men of his 
fleet to take their ships farther and farther from 
the shore. The superstitious sailors, however, 
brought back only weird tales that helped to 
deepen the old dread of the "Sea of Darkness," 
as the Atlantic was then called. No man had ever 
crossed this ocean, and it was supposed to be peo- 
pled with dragons and monsters. 

While this was the fear among sailors and un- 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



^6 


^^^^^ 


g 


^Si 



Dangers of the " Sea of Darkness 
From an old picture. 



educated people, a few scholars were gradually 
coming to the conclusion that the earth was round. 
" We believe, " they said, " that by sailing in a 
westerly direction from Europe, India may be 
reached." This, they 
knew, had been the 
belief of ancient 
Greek philosophers, 
and they had them- 
selves seen ships dis- 
appear from view 
beyond the horizon. 

But even the wisest 
of these men, among 

whom was the astronomer Toscanelli, had no idea 
that the whole American continent lay in the 
supposed path to India. Nor did they believe 
the world to be anything like so large as it is. 
When Columbus set out on his voyage he ex- 
pected to find India only about twenty-five hundred 
miles away. 

Before we sail with Columbus on his long dreary 
voyage that was to be of such far-reaching impor- 
tance to the world, let us see how his boyhood and 
youth had fitted him for so great an undertaking. 

Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in the year 
1436. His father was a wool-comber. As was 
common with lads reared in cities by the sea, Co- 
lumbus showed in his early years a love for the 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




water, and a desire for a seaman's life. In his boy- 
hood he Hked to draw, and his father had him 
taught geography, geometry, astronomy, and navi- 
gation. 

At the age of fourteen Columbus entered upon 
his life on the ocean, but we must not get the idea 

that, because 

he spent so 
few years at 
school, he 
then ceased 
to study. His 
liking for ge- 
ography led 
him to give 
to books and 
maps every leisure hour that he could find through- 
out his busy life. 

His first voyages were made with a distant rela- 
tive, a hardy, daring sea-captain, who found that the 
boy conducted himself with great credit, showing 
fearlessness and good sense. Soon tales of Prince 
Henry's expeditions attracted Columbus to Portugal. 
By this time Columbus had grown to manhood. 
He was tall and well-formed, with ruddy complex- 
ion, gray eyes, and light hair. He was strong in 
muscle, dignified and courteous in manner, and 
deeply religious. It was not long before he married 
the daughter of an Italian cavalier who had won 



3 KNOWN 



The World as known in the Time of Columbus 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



distinction under Prince Henry. They had one son 
whom they named Diego. 

He went on various sea-trips to the coast of 
Guinea, but spent all his hours of leisure in drawing 
maps and charts. This occupation led him to ex- 
change letters with learned men, among whom was 
Toscanelli. These letters showed 
Columbus that the wisest geog- 
raphers and astronomers be- 
lieved, as did he himself, that 
the earth was round, and this 
belief kept alive his interest in 
exploration. 

Gradually Columbus gave him- 
self up to the one great idea of 
finding India by sailing west- 
ward from Europe. Stories have 
been told of voyages that he 
made to Iceland, where he heard 
of Leif's discovery of Vinland ; 
but the truth of these tales never has been proved. 
Even if they were true, Columbus would probably 
have paid no attention to the fact that Leif had 
discovered new land with a few savages upon it. 
He was in search of a short route to India and 
China, the land of gold and precious stones. 

But how was Columbus to accomplish this great 
undertaking ? He was poor, and a large sum of 
money was needed. He was so confident of suc- 




•r 

•S- A -S-- 

Columbus 

From the bust at Padua. 

Autograph. 



S FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

cess, however, that he laid his plans before King 
John of Portugal, who heard them with patience 
and called a council of learned men to discuss them. 
But these men came to the conclusion that the Ital- 
ian's idea was very foolish and deserved no serious 
attention. 

Columbus now turned his back upon Portugal 
and with his little son Diego set out for Spain, 
where he tried to interest wealthy nobles in his 
plans. Meantime he had sent his brother to Eng- 
land and to France to beg aid from the kings 
of those countries, but they gave him no encourage- 
ment. Columbus was now in great poverty; for he 
had devoted all his time to his great exploring 
schemes, and had earned no money for the support 
of his family. 

At last a rich Spanish duke advised Columbus to 
seek aid of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ; he 
gave Columbus a letter to the Queen, in which he 
urged her to give careful attention to Columbus's 
request. The Spaniards were at' this time engaged 
in fighting the Moors, and so it happened that, 
although Ferdinand and Isabella listened to Co- 
lumbus's plans, they were in no haste to act upon 
them. They called together some of the most 
scholarly men in the country to talk with him, but, 
while a few were convinced, others laughed at his 
ideas and said he was not in his right mind. This 
opinion became general. When Columbus passed 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 9 

through the streets, even the children would point 
their fingers to their foreheads, to indicate that he 
was a madman. 

And so seven weary years of w^aiting passed. At 
last, hungry, foot-sore, and heartsick, Columbus set 
out for France ; but he had gone only a short dis- 




COLUMBUS ASKING AlD OF QUEEN ISABELLA 
After the painting by Brozik. 

tance w4ien he was bidden to return. While King 
Ferdinand still frowned upon him, Queen Isabella 
had decided to give his plans a trial. At a meeting 
of the court she exclaimed, " I undertake the enter- 
prise for my own crown of Castile, and will pledge 
my jewels to raise the necessary funds." 

The one great desire of Columbus's life was ful- 



lo FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

filled, and he at last set sail from the port of Palos, 
on August 3, 1492. His fleet was composed of 
three small vessels, called caravels. The largest, 
the Santa Maria, was about ninety feet long and 
twenty feet wide. The other two were the Pinta, 
and the Nina or " Baby." While these boats were 
larger than those of the Northmen, it is doubtful 
whether they were as strong. They were open, with 
deck amidships, built high at the prow and stern, 
with cabins for the crew. 

Ninety persons in all set out with Columbus on 
that memorable voyage, and only with the greatest 
difficulty had these few been persuaded to go. It 
was the general belief that they were sailing to 
certain death on the wild unknown waters. Co- 
lumbus sailed first for the Canary Islands, where he 
was obliged to remain for three weeks while the 
caravels were being repaired. 

On the 6th of September the fleet made a fresh 
start, and through the remainder of the month the 
little boats held steadily on their westward course. 
Never had the firm, persevering spirit of Columbus 
been put to so severe a test ; for, as the weeks went 
by without sight of land, the men grew more restless 
and finally desperate. They begged Columbus to 
return to Spain, and when he refused they plotted 
to get rid of him. " He is crazy," they said, " and 
we are probably lost. Let us throw him overboard 
and try to find our way home." 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



II 



*' My men grow mutinous day by day ; 
My men grow ghastly wan and weak." 
The stout mate thought of home; a spray 
Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. 
"What shall I say, brave Admiral, say, 
If we sight naught but seas at dawn? " 
" Why, you shall say at break of day, 
Sail on ! sail on ! sail on ! and on ! " 




Caravels of Columbus 
After the model exhibited at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. 

But what are those objects on the top of the 
waves ? A branch of shrubbery with berries upon 
it, and a stick that has been cut with some sharp 
instrument. They must have floated from some 



12 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

near-by shore. Land jnust be near ! All eyes were 
eagerly strained, and on the evening of October 1 1 
a light was seen in the distance. By daybreak land 
was in sight. 

Early on the morning of October 12, 1492, the 
admiral, with several of his men, went ashore. 
Columbus, attired in a rich red robe, proudly planted 
the flag of Spain on the island on which they had 
landed. He named it San Salvador (Holy Savior) 
and claimed possession in the name of the king 
and queen. He wept for joy and kissed the soil, 
and, kneeling, thanked God for success. 

Soon the voyagers were surrounded by naked 
savages, who though frightened and curious were 
at the same time friendly and gentle. Columbus 
gave them glass beads and other bright-colored 
trifles, which they joyfully hung around their necks. 
They never had seen any boats except their own 
canoes, and they thought the Spanish ships, with 
masts and sails, were white- winged birds or sea-mon- 
sters, and that the strange men had come down from 
heaven. In the belief that he had reached the East 
Indian islands, Columbus called the natives Indians. 
He was, in fact, only a short distance from the 
Florida coast, on one of the Bahama islands. 

The happy sailors were greatly impressed by the 
rich fruits and foliage of this new land, and par- 
ticularly pleased at the sight of the gold trinkets 
which the Indians wore. They were now ashamed 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



13 



of their behavior during the voyage, and of the 
anxiety they had caused their admiral ; so they 
gathered around him and begged forgiveness. 

During the next few weeks Columbus explored 
the coasts, but trouble was in store for him. One 




Landing of Columbus, October 12, 1492 
After the picture by Dioscora Puebla. 

morning the Pinta, the swiftest vessel of the fleet, 
was missing ; and worse still, the Santa Maria^ 
while cruising along the coast, ran aground on a 
sand bank and was wrecked. 

Not all of the men could return to Spain on the 
little Nina, so from the wreck of the Santa Maria 
and other timber a rude fort was built. As much 
provision as could be spared was left in the fort. 



14 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

For the rest, the men trusted to fruit and game, and 
to the kindness of the natives, to keep them alive 
until Columbus should return. The sailors who 
were going back to Spain crowded into the Nina, 
and in January, 1493, they began the homeward 
voyage. Columbus was surprised two days later at 
sighting the Pinta, whose commander had been 
trading with the Indians for his own profit. To 
explain his bad conduct he said he had been carried 
out to sea by the winds. 

When the two little vessels reached the harbor of 
Palos, great was the rejoicing. Business was sus- 
pended, bells were rung, and in triumph Colum- 
bus was borne to the church, where thanks were 
offered for the safe return of the navigators. The 
king and queen received Columbus with great 
ceremony and showered honors upon him. They 
were delighted with the tales he had to tell of the 
new island, and with the strange birds and fruits 
and native Indians that he had brought back. 

Men who had laughed at Columbus now begged 
to be taken with him on a voyage. In September, 
1493, a second fleet was ready. This time there 
were seventeen ships carrying fifteen hundred men. 
Again the discoverer sailed westward, expecting to 
join those left behind in the little fort at San Salva- 
dor. But, alas ! he found the fort in ruins. Not a 
trace of the Spaniards was to be seen. 

A colony named San Domingo was now estab- 



1 6 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

lished on the island of Hayti, and Porto Rico and 
Jamaica were discovered. Then Columbus returned 
to arrange for a fresh voyage of discovery, and soon 
Spain sent more men and ships to San Domingo. 

On his third voyage, in 1498, Columbus discovered 
the mainland of South America, which also he sup- 
posed to be Asia. But why could he not find the 
treasures of India and China ? And where was the 
Great Khan to whom F'erdinand and Isabella had 
written the letter which Columbus was to present ? 

The king and queen now grew impatient over 
the delay in finding the short, safe route to the rich 
eastern countries. This was the one thing they had 
expected Columbus to accomplish; for they thus 
hoped to gain great wealth. 

Poor, brave Columbus ! He had enjoyed a brief 
period of triumph, but during his last years he was 
to know nothing but sorrow. Many were jealous of 
him because of the great respect that the king and 
queen had shown him. " What he has discovered 
is of no use to any one," said his enemies. " He has 
brought back none of the treasures he went to seek, 
and the colony of San Domingo is only a source of 
expense." 

Soon quarrels arose among the colonists. One 
day while Columbus, who acted as governor, was 
away exploring the coast, a ship hastily set sail for 
Spain. It carried letters to Ferdinand and Isabella 
containing false stories of harsh treatment received 



CHRISTOPHER COLUxMBUS 



17 




at the hands of Columbus. The king Immediately 
sent over a messenger, named Bobadilla, to investi- 
gate the affairs of the colony, and to help restore 
order and good 
feeling. But 
Bobadilla wanted 
the ofBce of gov- 
ernor for himself, 
so he seized Co- 
lumbus and sent 
him back to 
Spain, a prisoner 
in chains. At 
the same time 
he sent to the 
king and queen 
a letter in which many 
made. 

When the great discoverer was brought to the 
court in irons, good Queen Isabella broke into tears 
and sobbed. She had Columbus released at once, 
and in 1502 sent him out on a fourth exploring 
expedition. 

But misfortune continued to follow him. Tor- 
nado after tornado burst upon his ships and threat- 
ened them with destruction. He explored the coast 
of Central America, fighting fierce gales for many 
weeks. After one of his vessels had been wrecked 
and he was reduced almost to starvation, he man- 






House at Valladolid where Columbus died 



untrue statements were 



i8 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

aged to reach San Domingo. The broken-hearted 
discoverer sailed for Spain a few weeks later. 

The death of Isabella was a sad blow to Colum- 
bus. Ferdinand looked coldly upon his claims to 
the land and money that had been promised him. 
Hardship, toil, and anxiety had undermined the 
great navigator's health, and he died at Valladolid, 
poor and neglected, on May 20, 1506. He never 
knew that he had discovered a new world, or 
dreamed that his fame would survive as long as 
America endures. He had failed to find a passage 
to the rich countries of the East, and men forgot 
him, or remembered him only to ridicule him. 

It was not until long years afterward that Europe 
learned of the size and form of the great continent 
of America, and realized the debt owed to Colum- 
bus. Through his discoveries Spain was to reap 
enormous wealth in gold and silver, and to acquire 
new lands ; and France, England, and Holland were 
to plant colonies on this fresh soil. 

After the death of Columbus one of his friends, 
Americus Vespucius, a merchant of Florence, was 
sent by the king of Portugal to the new land Colum- 
bus had found. Vespucius sailed along the coast 
of South America and, after a voyage made in 1501, 
published an account of what he had seen. This 
written description of the New World led to nam- 
ing the country America. It would have been more 
properly called Columbia. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 19 

Things to Remember 

Christopher Columbus was an ItaHan, who sailed under the 
Spanish flag to find a westward route to China and India. 

On this voyage America was discovered by Cokmibus in 1492. 
He landed on one of the Bahama Islands and afterward explored 
Cuba and Hayti. 

In 1493 Columbus made a second voyage to America and 
founded a colony, San Domingo, upon the island of Hayti. 

On his third voyage, in 1498, he discovered the coast of South 
America. 

Columbus never landed on any part of what is now the United 
States, and he died without knowing that he had discovered a new 
continent. 

America received its name from a later explorer, Americus 
Vespucius. 

Map Work. — Locate on a map or globe Genoa, Venice, Port- 
ugal, Spain, Palos, the Canaries, San Salvador, Cuba, Hayti, the 
Azores. 

Memory Selection. — Joaquin Miller's "Columbus." 

Nunc vcro &he^ partes Cintlatius Iuftrat«/8(i 

alia quarta pars per Amencu Vefputiumc vt inft^ 

-Icjts <iu^ntibus audietur)inucnta cftrqua non. video cut 

Ame^ quis iurc vetet ab Americo inucntore ^fagads inge 

lico r3x\ viro Amcrigcn quaG Amcridterram/fiue Amc 

licam dicendamtcum 8^: Europa & Afia a mulieri^ 

bus fuafortitafint nomina^Eius fitu & gentis mo* 

i& cxJ3isl>inis.AmeridnauigatLonibus quf ieqaS 

turliquideinteUigidatur. 

Facsimile 

Of that part of the page in the book in which the name of America 

is proposed for the New World. 



11. FERNANDO DE SOTO AND OTHER 
SPANISH EXPLORERS 



De Soto: Born about 1500 — Died 1542 

And we came to the Isle of Flowers ; their breath met us out on 

the seas, 
For the spring and the middle summer sat each on the lap of the 

breeze ; 
And the red passion-flower to the cliffs, and the dark blue clematis, 

clung, 
And starr'd with a myriad blossom the long convolvulus hung. 
— Tennyson's "The Voyage of Maeldune." 

Although Spain had allowed Columbus to die 
neglected and almost forgotten, she was not slow to 
follow up his discoveries. She continued to send 
ships and men to the new shores, 
and Portugal, too, began to send 
out explorers. 

For nearly one hundred years 
after Columbus's discovery Spain 
and Portugal had no rivals. Span- 
iards and Portuguese explored 
Cuba, Hayti, Porto Rico, and 
Jamaica, and later Mexico and Peru. 
Many colonies were established, 
for in Mexico and Peru the lons:- 



^v*^ 




Spanish Knight of 
I 6th Century 



looked-for gold and silver had been 



discovered. Thousands of men 
now eagerly crossed the ocean and pressed farther 



20 



FERNANDO DE SOTO 



21 



and farther into the interior of these countries. 
They found them inhabited by powerful tribes of 
half-civihzed Indians, the Aztecs in Mexico and the 
Incas in Peru, who 
united in an effort 
to drive out the in- 
vaders. 

Spain sent over men 
and ships so fast that 
the resistance of the 
Indians w^as useless. 
The most daring and 
brilHant of the Span- 
ish conquests w^ere 
made by Cortez in 
Mexico and Pizarro 
in Peru, but the Span- 
iards treated the 
natives with great 

cruelty. ^ By the aid An Aztec King 

of superior weapons of 

war they won crushing victories over the tribes in 
possession ; they then seized the rich mines, and 
thus created a new and wealthy empire for Spain. 
While Cortez and Pizarro were engaged in their 
conquests, other Spaniards were exploring and mak- 
ing fresh discoveries. Ponce de Leon, a brave 
soldier, had accompanied Columbus on his second 
voyage, and by 15 12 had been made governor of 




22 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Porto Rico. Colonists who had returned from ad- 
ventures in lands north of Porto Rico told wonder- 
ful stories about what they had seen. 

They said, " Food and fruits may be had from 
the soil without labor; the barbarous natives are 
decked with gold and jewels, and the sparkling 

rivers carry gold in their 
waters." Among other 
wonderful things they spoke 
of a "magical fountain"; 
the Indians had told them 
that one might bathe in 
its waters and become 
young again. 

Now Ponce de Leon 
was growing old, and he 
thought that if he might 

Ponce De Leon ^^d this WOndcrful fountain, 

it would be indeed a great 
discovery. Accordingly he sailed northward, and 
on Easter Sunday, 15 13, his vessel came within sight 
of a land brilliant with flowers. 

In Spain Easter day is called Pascua Florida, 
" Flowery Easter," so De Leon named the land 
Florida, and went ashore, probably not far from 
the present city of St. Augustine. But he explored 
very little, and he did not succeed in founding a 
colony. Instead of finding the fountain of youth, 
he met his death. One of the arrows shot by the 




FERNANDO DE SOTO 



23 



hostile Indians struck him in the thigh, and after 
suffering from the wound and the hardships of 
the journey he died. 

In the same year in which De Leon discovered 
Florida, 15 13, Balboa, governor of one of the Span- 
ish colonies, climbed to a high peak on the Isthmus 




St. Augustine, Florida, as founded in 1565 
The oldest town in North America. 

of Darien. To his surprise he looked down upon 
an unknown body of water, which he called the 
South Sea. It was what we now call the Pacific 
Ocean, and Balboa was the first white man to 
behold its waters from this side of the world. 

In 1 5 19 Magellan, a Portuguese, discovered the 
straits that now bear his name, and passing through 
them entered Balboa's " South Sea. " (See map, 
page 55.) Magellan found the water so calm that 
he gave it the name Pacific. 



24 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




He continued to sail westward, and finally 
reached the East Indies. Unfortunately he was 
killed in the Phihppine Islands ; but one of his ves- 
sels continued the voyage, 
passing round the Cape of 
Good Hope, until it reached 
Spain. There was great ex- 
citement when this ship 
came into port. It was the 
first vessel that had sailed 
around the world. 

The question of the shape 
of the earth was now settled. 
The cruise of this ship 
proved that the earth is 
round, and that no sailor need hesitate to sail out 
a long way on the ocean for fear of passing over 
the edge. This great 
voyage of Magellan 
settled another ques- 
tion ; it proved that 
the land that Colum- 
bus had discovered was 
not Asia. 

Interest in America 
now became keener 
than ever. " Why 
should not I become 
as rich as Cortez or Pizarro ? " each explorer asked 



Vasco Nunez de Balboa 




Ferdinand Magellan 



FERNANDO DE SOTO 



25 



himself, and in 1528 a Spaniard named Narvaez 
set out with four hundred men to settle the Florida 
of Ponce de Leon. But the swamps and the hos- 
tility of the Indians were more than the colonists 
could endure. Out of the whole expedition only 
four men survived. 

These four had a strange and wonderful experi- 
ence. They w^ere in an unknown wilderness, pris- 
oners of the Indians, and in danger of being put 
to death. In some way they made the savages 
believe that their captives were sorcerers, or ma- 
gicians ; so the Indians spared tlieir lives. For eight 
long years they led this perilous existence, and at 
last they reached a Spanish settlement on the west- 
ern coast of Mexico, having tramped over two 
thousand miles. 

In the same year in which the Straits of Magel- 
lan were discovered, 15 19, Pineda discovered the 
mouth of a great river, which he named Rio de 
Santo Espiritu — River of the Holy Spirit. It was 
the mighty stream that we now call the Mississippi. 

It remained for Fernando de Soto, a Spaniard of 
noble birth, to explore the Mississippi River and to 
make a successful march through Florida. When 
a boy in Spain, De Soto had been able to outdo his 
comrades in athletic sports. As he grew to man- 
hood he became a daring horseman and a fearless 
soldier. He accompanied Pizarro when the latter 
set forth on his conquest. 



26 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

De Soto gained great wealth in Peru and showed 
such bravery and abihty that the Spanish king, 
Charles V, beHeved he could do much to subdue 
the Indians. So he appointed De Soto governor of 
Cuba and Florida, and commissioned him to ex- 
plore and settle the latter country. Florida then 

included all the land that 
is now contained in the 
states of Florida, Georgia, 
Alabama, and Mississippi. 

In 1539 De Soto sailed 
from Havana with nine 
vessels, and landed at 
Tampa Bay. With six 
hundred picked men, ban- 
ners flying, trumpets blow- 
ing, hehnets and lances 

Fernando De Soto glittering in the warm 

southern sun, the conqueror set out on his journey 
through the wilderness. He followed the coast of 
the Gulf of Mexico as far west as Mississippi, and 
he probably went as far north as the Carolinas and 
Tennessee. 

De Soto showed no more mercy to the native 
Indians than had the other Spanish invaders. With- 
out shame he acknowledged that he enjoyed the 
" sport of killing Indians." The poor savages 
were caught, chained together in gangs, and com- 
pelled to carry the heavy baggage of their captors. 




FERNANDO DE SOTO 



27 



When they faltered they were driven forward hke 
beasts of burden. Other Indians were made to act 
as guides. 

Once an Indian princess was rowed out in a covered 




Map illustrating Spanish Explorations 



canoe to meet De Soto. She made him presents 
of furs and beads, and gave him a necklace that she 
had worn. But the Spaniard laughed at her; he made 
her a prisoner, and compelled her to walk with his 
other captives. It is no wonder that the Indian 
guides purposely misled their tormentors into 



28 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

swamps and jungles, and that each fresh tribe that 
they met proved hostile. 

After a fierce battle with the Indians at Mobile 
Bay, De Soto turned northward, and six months 
later crossed the Mississippi, the "Great River" of 
the red man, south of the present city of Memphis. 
He explored the stream nearly as far north as the 
state of Missouri. The earliest description that 
we have of the Mississippi was left by his band of 
Spaniards. They found the current very strong, the 
water always muddy, and tree-trunks and branches 
constantly floating down the stream. 

But De Soto, like so many others, was disap- 
pointed at not finding gold. He grew weary of 
marching through the wilderness and fighting sav- 
ages. So he turned back ; but he was never to see 
Cuba again. Near the junction of the Mississippi 
and Red rivers he was stricken with a fever and 
died. In the darkness of the night his companions 
buried him in the swift waters he had been the first 
to explore. 

Deprived of their chief, the party had now only 
one question in mind — " How can we get back to 
Cuba.f^" In hastily built boats they descended the 
river, and, after many hardships on water and on 
land, succeeded at last in reaching the Spanish set- 
tlements in Mexico. In three years of wandering, 
two hundred and fifty men had perished of disease 
and privation, or had been killed by the Indians. 



30 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




Cannon of the Time of Cortez 



This was Indeed a sad ending of the expedition that 
had begun so gaily in the hope of gaining wealth and 
fame. 

Although DeSoto was the first white man to explore 
Florida, he did not plant a colony there. But in 
1565 a permanent settlement was made by Spaniards 

at St. Augus- 
tine, and that 
city is the 
oldest in the 
United States. 
We now see 
that at the 
close of the 
sixteenth cen- 
tury Spain could easily understand how much she 
owed to Columbus. The Spaniards not only had 
explored the West Indies, Florida, Mexico, and Peru, 
but had also traveled some distance along the coast 
of California. 

In the year 1600, therefore, Spain was practically 
In possession of this New World. But she knew 
little about governing such large colonies as she had 
planted, and the settlers themselves had only one 
cry : " Give us gold, more gold." The idea of till- 
ino^ the soil and makino^ homes never occurred to 
them. Their only aim was to conquer the natives, 
and to steal from them all the wealth that could 
be carried back to Europe. One dream of King 



FERNANDO DE SOTO 31 

Ferdinand, Queen Isabella, and Columbus had been 
to convert the savages to the Christian faith, but 
the Spaniards had almost entirely lost sight of this 
in the mad search for riches. 

Things to Rejmember 

Balboa, a Spaniard, was the first white man to see the Pacific 
Ocean. This was in the year 1513. 

Magellan, a Portuguese, discovered the Straits of Magellan in 
15 19, and gave the Pacific Ocean its name. 

He sailed through these straits to the East Indies, and one of 
his vessels was the first ship to encircle the globe and prove that 
the earth is round. 

In 15 13 Ponce de Leon, while searching for the Fountain of 
Youth, discovered and named Florida. 

Pineda discovered the Mississippi River in the year 15 19. 

De Soto explored the Mississippi River in 1542, 

St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States, was founded 
by Spaniards in 1565. 

Map Work. — Note the states crossed by De Soto and the 
route of the escape of De Soto's men. 



III. JOHN CABOT 

Born about 1450 — Died 1498 

The meteor flag of England 

Shall yet terrific burn ; 
Till danger's troubled night depart, 

And the star of peace return. 
Then, then, ye ocean warriors, 

Our song and feast shall flow 
To the fame of your name. 

When the storm has ceased to blow — 
When the fiery fight is heard no more. 

And the storm has ceased to blow. 

— Campbell's " Ye Mariners of England." 

Five hundred years ago there were few books 
and few persons who could read them. There were 
no pubHc schools, no railroads, no steamboats or 
telegraphs, so that people had slight means of learn- 
ing about places outside of their own communities. 

Even after the days of De Soto, Europeans still 
believed that there was some path of water across 
America by which they could reach China. So 
little was known of the geography of the world that 
correct maps could not be made. The map-makers 
drew what they knew of the coast lines, and guessed 
at the rest, and for many years America was put 
down as an island. 

32 



JOHN CABOT 



33 



But merchant ships had carried to England news 
of the attempts of Columbus to find a new route to 
China. It happened that there was living at Bris- 
tol, England, in the days of King Henry VII, an 
Italian named John Cabot, 
or as it was spelled in his 
native country, Cabato. He 
was born in Genoa, but lived 
for fifteen years in Venice 
before he left his own coun- 
try for England. 

John Cabot was a brave 
and able seaman, and he 
was also a successful mer- 
chant. He had traveled in 
Arabia, where he had seen 
caravans laden -with spices 
and silk, and he longed to 
visit the far-away islands 
where such rich goods could 
be obtained. His son, Se- 
bastian, who probably went 
with his father on his voyages, says that the news 
of Columbus's discoveries " kindled a great flame 
of desire to attempt some notable thing." 

So Cabot at length resolved to sail to the far 
West. The expedition was authorized by Henry 
VII, and in the spring of 1497 Cabot sailed across 
the Atlantic with one small boat, manned by 




Cabot Memorial Tower at 
Bristol, England 



34 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

eighteen sailors. " I give you authority," said the 
king, " to sail to the east, west, or north, carrying 
the Enghsh flag, to seek and discover all the islands 
or countries of pagans in whatever part of the world." 

For two reasons Cabot chose a more northerly 
route than Columbus had taken; he wished to avoid 
trouble with Spain, and above all he desired to find 
the wondrous " Isles of Spice " which Columbus had 
not found. 

On June 24, 1497, at about five o'clock in the 
morning, the watchman gave the cry, " Land ahead !" 
and the Englishmen came in sight of a long stretch 
of shore. This was probably the coast of Labrador 
or Newfoundland, and Cabot named it New-found- 
land. The explorer believed he had landed on the 
soil of Asia, and in accordance with his instructions 
he planted the English flag, and said : " I take pos- 
session of the country in the name of the king of 
England." 

Cabot now hastened to return and tell of the land 
he had found. He was greeted with wild enthusi- 
asm, and was called the " Great Admiral." He ap- 
peared in public dressed in beautiful silk robes, and 
a writer of that time says: " The English run after 
him like madmen." 

King Henry presented Cabot with ten pounds, 
which equals fifty dollars, and he ordered the port 
of Bristol to pay Cabot a small pension. Thus did 
Henry think he had repaid the " Great Admiral " 



JOHN CABOT 



35 



for securing for England a new country. The king 
wrote in his notebook : " To him that found the 
new isle, ten pounds." " I have," said he, " won a 
part of Asia without a stroke of the sword." 

The next year, 1498, John Cabot sailed again 
from England on another journey to these shores. 
This time his fleet consisted of five or six ships, and 




Coast of Newfoundland in Cabot's Time 

the route was farther south. Cabot carefully ex- 
plored the coast of North America as far south as 
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but he could not find the 
desired passage to Asia. 

The explorer had with him as pilot a man who 
had been with Columbus on two of his voyages. 
This pilot made a valuable map of the shore, and 
Sebastian Cabot made another. These two maps 
are still in existence. They were the first ever 
made of the American coast. 



36 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

While Cabot in Labrador and Newfoundland in 
1498 found the ground covered with deep snow, and 
the inhabitants clothed in the skins of animals, Co- 
lumbus was finding in our southern climate a land 
abounding in flowers and fruits. These things were 
interesting enough in their way, but both men were 
bitterly disappointed at not finding rich metals, 
jewels, and spices. 

When Cabot returned to England he reported 
that he had seen enormous quantities of codfish off 
the coast of Newfoundland. As Bristol was at this 
time the center of the English trade for the fisheries 
of Iceland, this news was very welcome. Fisheries 
at Newfoundland were at once established and these 
have grown to be the largest in the world. Nothing 
is known of John Cabot after his second voyage to 
America. 

King Henry lost interest in the New World dis- 
coveries just as King Ferdinand did, and for the same 
reason ; that is, because the wealth of China and 
India had not been found. 

Nearly one hundred years passed before England 
did anything further in exploring America. When 
she did make another attempt she found that the 
voyages of Cabot had been most important. They 
gave her a right to claim the land that he had dis- 
covered and taken in England's name. 

As John Cabot's explorations were made before 
the Spaniards had conquered Florida, we see that 



I 



JOHN CABOT 




Map of Early Voyages 



3^ 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



he and his EngHsh sailors were the first white men, 
after the Northmen, to visit the shores of North 
America. 

Things to Remember 

John Cabot, an Italian in the employ of the English govern- 
ment, discovered and explored the New England coast in 1498. 

The English were the first white men, after the Northmen, to 
visit the shores of North America. 

Because of John Cabot's discovery, England claimed, in later 
years, that the eastern coast of North America belonged to her and 
not to Spain. 

Map Work. — Trace the route of Cabot from England to 
Newfoundland. 




Sebastian Cabot 
After the picture ascribed to Holbein. 



IV. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 

Born about 1540 — Died 1596 

And the sun went down, and the stars came out far over the 
summer sea, 

But never a moment ceased the fight of the one and the fifty- 
three, 

Ship after ship, the whole night long, their high-built galleons 
came. 

Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back with her dead and 
her shame. 

— Tennyson's "The Revenge.'" 

Francis Drake was one of the greatest English 
seamen that ever lived. As a navigator and adven- 
turer he was almost as great a terror to Spain as the 
Northmen had been to England. Let us see what 
had happened in Spain and in England since John 
Cabot sailed his little craft into American waters. 

On the throne of Spain in 1577 we find Philip II, 
while Queen Elizabeth ruled in England. Under 
Elizabeth, England was fast growing in strength, 
and Spain regarded her as a powerful rival. 

Religious disputes had arisen in England. Many 
of the people were Roman Catholics, while others 
shared their queen's belief in the Protestant faith. 
Philip was a devout Catholic and longed to see his 

39 



40 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

own religion established throughout Europe. " If I 
could conquer England and govern it myself," 
thought he, " I could make it a Catholic country." 
This was one cause that led to war between Eng- 
land and Spain. 

There was also another cause. The discovery of 
the New World had greatly increased the interest 
in commerce, so that the number of vessels engaged 
in trade on the high seas had grown to a surprising 
extent. These were free and easy days, when na- 
tions did not trouble themselves about the rights of 
others. " Let us get all we can, no matter how," 
seemed to be the motto of the times. 

For example, even before war was declared be- 
tween England and Spain, if an English ship could 
capture a Spanish vessel filled with treasure, it did 
not hesitate to do so. The Spaniards also were 
equally ready to seize an English ship and steal 
whatever of value could be found. The sovereigns 
at home never punished the commanders of these 
pirate ships. 

This practice of the robbery of the ships of one 
nation by another on the high seas, helps us to 
understand how the adventures of Francis Drake 
could be possible. 

Drake had a cousin named John Hawkins, who 
was older than he by several years. It occurred to 
Hawkins, who was a daring sea captain, that he 
might make a great deal of money by sailing to the 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 



41 



coast of Africa, securing a cargo of slaves, and sell- 
ing them to the Spanish colonists on the islands of 
the West Indies. 

The Spaniards, however, had a law that forbade 
foreigners to land on Spanish possessions for the 
purpose of trade. Hawkins knew of this law, but 
he knew also that the Spaniards would probably be 
glad to exchange gold 
and silver for the 
slaves, if they could 
do so without being 
found out. He there- 
fore took the risk, and 
succeeded in this way 
in carrying on a 
flourishing business. 

It is said that even 
Queen Elizabeth was 
not ashamed to share 
profits 




m 



the large 



Sir Francis Drake 

From the painting at Buckland Abbey, 

England. 



of this shameful 

traffic ; for in those 

days the buying and selling of slaves was common, 

and most people saw no harm in it. 

When in the year 1567 Hawkins's fleet set sail 
for Africa, one of the vessels, the little Judith, was 
owned and commanded by Francis Drake. Drake 
had lived near the sea all his life and loved nothing 
better. He had worked hard, and now he hoped to 



42 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

win rich profits from African trade. Unhappily for 
Drake, however, this voyage of Hawkins did not 
prove so successful as had his previous ventures. 
The Englishmen were pursued and overtaken by 
Spanish vessels, and only two boats of Hawkins's 
entire fleet escaped destruction. Drake lost every- 
thing he had in the world and was obliged to make 
a fresh start in life. 

But he was able and persevering, and in a few 
years we find him making expeditions to America 
on his own account. He skirted the shores as closely 
as he dared, and whenever it was possible for him to 
make a landing, attack the Spaniards, and take from 
them gold and silver, he did so. The Span- 
iards, who never had held back from robbing the 
native Indians, now found out how it felt to be 
robbed. 

On one of his voyages Drake reached the Isth- 
mus of Panama, and was just in time to seize some 
Spanish ships about to sail for home with vast treas- 
ures. "At last I have my revenge," said Drake; 
for so much more booty than his boat could carry 
fell into his hands that he was obliged to leave a 
portion of it behind. 

In the year 1573 Drake was again in Panama and 
with a part of his crew was marching through the 
dense woods of the Isthmus. Thick tangled under- 
brush made it impossible for the explorers to see 
ahead, so Drake climbed a tall tree and from this 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 



43 



height he could look across to the other side of the 
narrow strip of land. There lay a great body of water. 
What could it be ? As we know now, it was the 
Pacific Ocean, and Drake was the first Englishman 
to see it. About sixty years had passed since Balboa 
discovered it, and since Magellan had sailed through 
the straits and named Balboa's "South Sea" the 
Pacific Ocean. Drake 
now gazed at it long 
and steadily. " I 
hope," said he, " that 
I may some day sail 
a ship on those 
waters." 

He did not have 
many years to wait 
for the fulfilment of 
his desire. In No- 
vember, 1577, at the 
port of Plymouth, England, five vessels with sails 
unfurled and spread to the welcome breeze passed 
proudly out of the harbor. It was Drake's fieet, 
and his object was to attack Spanish ships on the 
Pacific seaboard of America. He reached the 
Atlantic coast safely and succeeded in passing 
through the Straits of Magellan. No Englishman 
had ever before sailed on the Pacific. 

As the fleet proceeded on its course, one of the 
ships went to pieces on the rocks, and three others 




Spanish Treasure Ship 



44 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

either turned back or were lost. With his one re- 
maining boat, the Golden Hind, and a scant supply 
of provisions, Drake boldly sailed into the South 
American ports of Chili and Peru. In the harbors 
of Valparaiso and Lima, Drake plundered the 
Spaniards so successfully that they called him the 
" master thief of the western world." There were 
no longer short rations for the crew of the Golden 
Hind, but more choice food than they could eat. 
There was also rich booty for all. 

It was not long before Drake heard that a Spanish 
ship, the Spitfire, had just left Panama with an un- 
usually rich cargo. Soon the Englishmen were in 
hot pursuit. " A chain of gold to the first man who 
sights the Spitfire'' said Drake. All eyes were 
strained as the Golden Hind plowed through the 
deep waters on the exciting chase. At last a nephew 
of Drake claimed the reward ; the Spitfire was over- 
taken, captured, and nearly a million dollars' worth of 
treasure was put on board the Golden Hijid, 

Drake was deeply grateful for the chance that had 
led to his climbing that tall tree on the Isthmus. 
" This ocean brings me good luck," said he; so, instead 
of returning home, he explored the Pacific coast as far 
north as Oregon. He spent the winter of 1579 on 
the shore of California, probably in the present 
harbor of San Francisco. He named the country 
New Albion and claimed it in the name of England's 
queen. When Drake at last left our western coast, 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 



45 



he crossed the Pacific and cruised among the Malay 
Islands ; then he sailed down the coast of Africa, 
rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and, in the autumn 




Queen Elizabeth making Drake a Knight 

of 1580, brought the storm-beaten Golden Hind 
safely into the harbor of Plymouth. 

This was the second time in the history of the 
world that the globe had been circumnavigated, and 



46 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Drake was the first Englishman to accompUsh the 
feat. On his return, therefore, he was hailed as 
the hero of the hour. Queen Elizabeth, attired in 
magnificent robes, visited him on the Golden Hind, 
and the proud commander prepared a banquet in 
her honor. As he knelt at her feet, she conferred 
knighthood upon him, so that alw^ays afterward he 
was known as Sir Francis Drake. 

The Golden Hind w^as preserved for one hundred 
years, and when it fell to pieces from old age part of 
its timber was made into a chair. The king gave 
this chair to the University of Oxford, where it may 
still be seen. 

Now it was natural that King Philip of Spain 
should not share the enthusiasm of the English for 
Sir Francis Drake. To Philip, Drake was a " mas- 
ter robber," and the court of Spain asked Queen 
Elizabeth to punish him. When no attention was 
paid to this request, Philip considered that he had 
sufficient excuse for declaring war upon England. 
In order to protect the Spanish treasure ships in 
their journey from the new land to the old, England 
m2ist be driven from the sea. Moreover, Philip 
thought that if he could crush England it would be 
possible to keep the Protestant faith from spreading. 

Spain was now one of the mightiest powers in the 
world. She had partly conquered Portugal, Italy, 
and Holland, and Philip resolved to destroy the 
English navy also. So he began to build a mighty 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 



47 



fleet of ships to use against the Enghsh. The 
Spaniards called this fleet the " Armada," and the 
high ships were called galleons. 

When news of the Spanish shipbuilding at Cadiz 
reached England, Drake determined to do what he 
could to hinder the work, and early in the year 1587 







The Spanish Armada in the English Channel 

he set out with a strong fleet. With his usual dar- 
ing he sailed close to the Spanish harbor, opened 
fire, and destroyed nearly one hundred unfinished 
ships. This feat he called " singeing the Spanish 
king's beard." 

Although Drake's attack postponed the comple- 
tion of the Armada for more than a year, it was 
finally ready to start on its errand of destruction. In 
the summer of 1588 it passed through the English 
Channel, and on July 29 came in sight of England. 



48 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

That same night dwellers on the English cliffs over- 
looking the sea licrhted a thousand beacon fires to 
warn their countrymen that the enemy was approach- 
ing. Two days afterward the two fleets met off the 
Cornish coast. 

The huge galleons were arranged in the form of a 
crescent. The English navy had fewer vessels, but 
being smaller they were more easily handled, and 
they were commanded by more daring and experi- 
enced seamen. Lord Howard was in charge, Drake 
second in command, while one division was under 
Sir John Hawkins, the cousin of Drake. The 
clumsy galleons built high above the water were an 
easy mark for the swiftly moving English vessels, 
which could sail two feet to the Spaniards' one and 
could fire four shots for every one the Spanish guns 
sent forth. 

On the first day of the battle King Philip's loss 
of men and ships was so heavy that he knew the 
conquest was not to be an easy one. The first day 
of ill luck was indeed the beginning of the end. 
For a whole week the fight continued with practi- 
cally no loss to the English. The battered Armada, 
with sails torn and masts shot away, slowly drifted 
across the channel, Drake and Hawkins with their 
English ships in close pursuit. At length a terrible 
storm arose. Unable to do anything but sail with 
the wind, the crippled Spanish fleet was forced to go 
around Scotland in an effort to get back to Spain ; 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 49 

but galleon after galleon was driven ashore on the 
wild coast and wrecked on the rocks. 

After the defeat of the Armada Drake was more 
popular than ever. In 1595 he and Hawkins set 
out on another voyage to America. But this expedi- 
tion was not successful. Haw^kins died before reach- 
ing Porto Rico. Drake won a few victories, but 
sickness broke out among his men, and at last the 
hardy admiral fell a victim to the disease. On 
January 28, 1596, the English vessels anchored at 
Porto Bello, and on the same day Sir Francis Drake 
died and was buried at sea. Robbed by death of 
its commanders, the fleet returned to England. 

Of Drake it was said : " Of such captains as 
Frank Drake heaven never makes but one at a time, 
and, if we lose him, good-by to England's luck. " 
Both Drake and Haw^kins were certainly among the 
bravest of England's navigators. 

Things to Remember 

Francis Drake was the first Englishman to look upon the Pacific 
Ocean. He saw it from the Isthmus of Panama in the year 1573. 

In 1577 he left England with a fleet of five vessels, and in 
the Goldeii Hirid he sailed around the world. He was the first 
Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. 

Drake explored the coast of California and Oregon in 1579, 
and claimed the Pacific coast for England. 

He was one of the admirals in the English navy that defeated 
the Spanish Armada in 1588. 

Map Work. — Trace the route of Drake in his voyage around 
the world. 



V. SIR WALTER RALEIGH 

Born 1552 — Died 161 8 

A wet sheet and a flowing sea, 
. A wind that follows fast 
And fills the white and rustling sail 

And bends the gallant mast ; 
And bends the gallant mast, my boys, 

While like the eagle free 
Away the good ship flies, and leaves 

Old England on the lee. 
— Cunningham's " A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea." 

The hero of this story is the handsome, brave, 
dashing Walter Raleigh, favorite of Queen Eliza- 
beth — adventurer, sailor, fighter, and courtier. His 
life was full of excitement and interest. He was 
the first man in Europe to make a really great 
effort to plant colonies and found a civilized com- 
munity in America. 

Raleigh was born in a quiet old farmhouse in 
Devonshire, England, though his father's family 
had once been rich and powerful. He spent his 
boyhood near the seacoast. He was fond of 
boats and sailins^; he liked the old sailors who 
told him thrilling stories of storms at sea; he 
liked to hear of the battles that his countrymen 
had fought with the Spaniards. His older half- 

50 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 



51 



brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had attempted to 
found a colony in Newfoundland about the time 
that Drake and Hawkins made their voyages to 
our coast. Young Raleigh had been fascinated by 
the stories of 
Gilbert and his 
friends, and re- 
solved to share 
some day their 
bold exploits. 

At the age of 
fifteen Raleigh 
entered Oxford 
University. His 
unusual talent 
for books and 
study, his fine 



face and figure, 




Sir Walter Raleigh 



and his lively, 
gracious man- 
ner attracted many friends. But he longed for a life 
of action, and at the end of three years left college to 
take part in a w^ar between Protestants and Catholics 
in France. He remained in that country for six or 
seven years ; then he became engaged in England's 
conflicts in Holland and Ireland, and for his services 
in the latter country Queen Elizabeth gave him 
large tracts of land. 

Throughout these years of foreign service Raleigh 



52 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

had everywhere shown remarkable bravery and abil- 
ity, and whether on sea or in camp he found time 
to read and study, and to write poems and essays. 
After he returned home his many accomplishments 
brought him to the notice of the queen, who gave 
him a place at her court, then one of the most bril- 
liant in Europe. 

Here Raleigh's wit, learning, and charm soon 
made him popular, while his acts of gallantry espe- 
cially endeared him to the queen. One afternoon 
while Elizabeth was walking in the palace grounds 
with her attendants, she came to a place in a path 
where water from a recent shower had collected. 
While the queen hesitated, wondering how to cross, 
Raleigh took off his richly embroidered velvet cloak 
and spread it over the muddy spot for her to walk 
upon. 

It was Elizabeth's custom to reward her favorites 
by giving them an opportunity to make large for- 
tunes. She extended to Walter Raleigh the privi- 
lege of exporting woolen goods and silks, and of 
selling wines, and he soon became a wealthy man. 
This enabled him to gratify his love for fine attire. 
Even the long plume which he wore in his hat 
was set with precious gems, and his shoe buckles 
sparkled with costly jewels. 

It was not until near the close of the sixteenth 
century that the people of Europe came to America 
for any other purpose than to find gold and silver. 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 



53 



Gilbert and Raleigh desired to plant colonies in 
America for other reasons. Their idea was to 
build houses, cultivate the ground, and establish a 
farming com- 
munity, to 
which England 
might send her 
laborers who 
could find no 
work at home. 
These colo- 
nies, Raleigh 
hoped, would 
" put a bridle 
on the king 
of Spain," by 
taking for Eng- 
land a part of 
the new land, 
and establish- 
ing on this side of the water additional trading 
points for England. 

When Sir Humphrey Gilbert died in shipwreck 
without having succeeded in founding a colony, 
Raleigh took up the work. The queen turned 
over to him, in 1584, the charter that she had 
granted to Gilbert. This gave him " the right to 
lay claim to any land In the west not actually pos- 
sessed by a Christian." The charter made Raleigh 




Queen Elizabeth of England 



54 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

governor of all the colonies he might establish ; and 
it gave to the settlers the freedom and privileges 
that they enjoyed at home. 

In the year 1584 Walter Raleigh sent out an ex- 
pedition that explored Albemarle and Pamlico 
sounds on the coast of what is now called North 
Carolina, but he did not go with it himself. The 
two commanders of the fleet brought back glow- 
ing reports of the climate and country, — the balmy 
air, fine rivers and harbors, fruit, fish, and game. 
Elizabeth was so pleased that she knighted Raleigh, 
and gave to the new land the name of Virginia. 
This was in her own honor; for, never having 
married, she was called the virgin or maiden 
queen. 

The next year Raleigh sent out seven more ves- 
sels, which landed at Roanoke Island. A colony 
was .planted, but owing to scarcity of food and the 
hostility of the Indians only part of the men sur- 
vived. Doubtless all would have gone well had the 
emigrants treated the natives with the kindness 
that Drake and Hawkins showed them. But some 
of the newcomers were idle, overbearing men, who 
supposed they could treat the redskins as out- 
rageously as they pleased. This was a dangerous 
experiment, as the English found to their sorrow. 
After suffering great hardships the few surviving 
colonists were taken home by a passing ship be- 
longing to the fleet of Sir Francis Drake. 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 



55 



This failure would have led some men to give up 
the idea of planting colonies in America, but Raleigh 
had great perseverance and did not easily lose heart. 
In the spring of 1587 

/ 



VfRClH A 
ITHfc first -leT 
' "lACtmAMERlCA. 



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THtSecOl.O!«UTS»E 
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IH •r CCTuRMtOTOENtLA 

A'irH „iR Francis OhAKe, 

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A/cuiTl587 

VIRGIWI', OAR£ 

- (t flr^r LHILD CF ENCLIiH P RCST'i dOR„t 
IN Ai^cpii.i\-LAu hterofAnahIas DhRE ^ 

ano 'lcamor White his wift Mtnaffts of J 

*Wl~ ritB BH"JO Of COLONk.TSitWOl.rat^i 

1 w\ ;^^RAL^,,H1^I*;87 

J 4 UHCAV 'u&u T ^Q I5b7 B 

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r OK CHICr or THt HATTERi llOi/J. 

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Ct -^C fMC E BAPTISMS Af" THt F RSI 
H4(.'<J>.tut!jrAT I Of /VMFI tl SAt 



he once more sent 
out an expedition, 
which this time in- 
cluded w^omen and 
children. It was 
under the command 
of Captain John 
White. Not loner 

o 

after the arrival of 
the colonists at Roan- 
oke the first English 
child w^as born in the 
United States. The 
little one was the 
granddaughter of 
Captain White and monument at old fort raleigh 

was named Virginia. Quite recently a stone has 
been set up at Roanoke, commemorating the site 
of this first settlement. It states that near this 
stone Virginia Dare was baptized on Sunday, Au- 
gust 20, 1587, and that on the Sunday preceding 
a friendly Indian chief had been baptized. 

Captain White saw the colonists snugly housed 
in strong huts and well stocked with provisions ; 
then he set sail for England to report to Raleigh 






56 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

the success of his venture. But, alas, just at this 
time Sir Walter, and in fact all England, was pre- 
paring for the fight with the Spanish Armada. The 
little settlement on the distant Atlantic coast was 
lost sight of in England's struggle to conquer her 
great rival. So a long time passed before White 
could be provided with more ships and men. 

Finally, after two years. Captain White returned 
to America, but a bitter disappointment awaited 
him, for no sign of the poor colonists remained. 
Either they had died of starvation or had been 
murdered by Indians, and little Virginia Dare was 
never heard of again. The only thing found that 
would even suggest that Englishmen had lived at 
Roanoke was the single word " Croatoan " carved 
on the bark of a tree. This was the name of an 
island not far away, so a careful search was made 
there for the missing settlers, but no trace of them 
ever came to light. 

Deeply discouraged, but not entirely disheartened, 
Raleigh continued to send out fresh expeditions 
to search the wilderness for some clew to his lost 
colony. The greater part of his large fortune was 
spent in unsuccessful efforts to establish a settle- 
ment in this country. 

One important result of his endeavors was the in- 
troduction into England of potatoes and tobacco, 
neither of which had been previously known there. 
The emigrants who lived to return from Virginia 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 57 

brought back a certain " root," as they called the 
potato. They had either discovered for themselves, 
or had been shown by the Indians, that this root 
might be boiled or roasted to make nourishing food. 
Raleigh planted the potato in the garden of his 
estate near Cork, Ireland, and its use as a vegetable 
spread over Europe. 

It is doubtful, however, if men were as much 
excited over the discovery of this new food as over 
the Indian herb which they soon learned to smoke. 
An English scholar who had gone out with one of 
Raleigh's fleets, brought back not only tobacco but 
a few of the Indians' clay pipes. Sir Walter had 
a silver pipe made after the Indian pattern, and 
an amusing story is told of his first effort to enjoy 
it. He was sitting by the fire puffing great whiffs 
of smoke, when a servant entered the room with 
a mug of ale. Seeing the smoke and thinking 
that Raleigh was on fire, he flung the ale over the 
head of his astonished master. 

After the year 1592 Raleigh gave up his attempt 
to plant a colony in America. Although Elizabeth 
was in many respects a great queen, and though she 
professed warm admiration for Raleigh, she was often 
harsh in her treatment of him. Once she ordered him 
imprisoned in the Tower of London, and after his 
release refused to allow him to present himself at 
court. This was a great grief to Raleigh, but he 
did not lose his courage. The sea was always call- 



58 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

ing him, and since he could no longer afford to 
send colonies to America, he organized an expedi- 
tion to explore the coast of Guiana. He ascended 
the Orinoco River for many miles. At Trinidad 




The Tower of London 

the Englishmen tasted their first pineapple, which 
they called the " Prince of Fruits." 

Raleigh was generally loved and admired, but 
some were jealous of him. After Elizabeth died and 
James I ruled in her place, these old enemies con- 
spired against Sir Walter and urged the king to put 
him to death. Once more the valiant Raleigh was 
committed to the gloomy Tower, where he was held 
a prisoner for thirteen years. He occupied the 
dreary days of his long confinement in writing an 
important book, "The History of the World." 

In the palace yard of Westminster, Raleigh was 
beheaded on October 19, j6i8. To such an ignoble 
end did King James condemn a great man whose 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 59 

brilliant record in the struggle against the Spanish 
Armada, and in other services to his country, entitled 
him to respect and honor. In St. Margaret's church, 
near Westminster Abbey, a memorial has been 
placed to Raleigh's memory. We may to-day read 
thereon that this brave man "laid the corner-stone 
of the American Republic." 

Raleigh lived to hear of the fulfillment of his 
great desire to " plant an English nation in Amer- 
ica," but the news was brought to him when he 
was in prison. Although his own efforts had been 
unsuccessful, they led to other attempts that resulted 
in the foundation of an English-speaking nation in 
America. Long years after his death North Caro- 
lina named her capital Raleigh in his honor. 

Things to Remember 

Sir Walter Raleigh's great desire was to plant an English nation 
in America. 

He was the first man who made persistent efforts to found a 
colony in America for any purpose except the finding of gold and 
silver. 

Raleigh's first colony was planted at Roanoke, North Carolina, 
in 1585. 

Virginia Dare, born in North Carohna in 1587, was the first 
English child born in America. 

Sir Walter Raleigh's efforts to establish a colony failed, but they 
led others to make attempts that were successful. 

It is said of Raleigh that ^' he laid the corner-stone of the 
American Republic." 

Map Work. — Locate Devonshire and Roanoke. 



VI. JOHN SMITH 

Born 1580 — Died 1631 

Bless then, our God, the new-yoked plow 

And the good beasts that draw, 
And the bread we eat in the sweat of our brow 

According to thy Law. 
After us cometh a multitude — 

Prosper the work of our hands. 
That we may feed with our land's food 

The folk of all our lands. 

— Kipling's " The Settler." 

It was more than one hundred years after John 
Cabot made his discovery of American shores, 
and twenty-two years after Raleigh tried to found 
a colony at Roanoke, before an English settlement 
took root and flourished in the New World. This 
was at Jamestown, Virginia, and the year in which 
it was begun was 1607. Jamestown, therefore, was 
the first permanent settlement made by Englishmen 
in the United States. It survived a desperate strug- 
gle against starvation and Indian attacks, and the 
man who more than any one else helped to keep it 
alive was John Smith. 

The days of England's courtiers and adventurers 
were drawing to an end, and Smith was one 
of the last. His life was filled with so many bold 

60 



JOHN SMITH 6i 

exploits and hairbreadth escapes that he makes a 
picturesque and interesting figure in our early his- 
tory. 

John Smith was born in Lincolnshire, England, 
and, as he was early attracted by a life of activity 
and danger, he joined in the war then raging in 
Holland. It has 
been said of him 
that he could not 
hear of a fight going 
on anywhere in the 
world without taking 
a hand in it; so we 
are not surprised to 
find him next in 
Hungary fighting ^ 
the Turks. 

Once he was taken >^-:^^ 




prisoner and thrown Captain John Smith 

overboard from a ^^°"^ ^^ engraving in his " Description of New 

England." 

ship, but escaped by 

swimming to land. At another time he was robbed, 
bound, and thrown into a deep wood to die, but 
again he managed to escape. When he finally 
reached England he heard that another attempt 
was to be made to do in America the work that 
Sir Walter Raleigh had failed in doing, and Smith 
at once became interested in the project. 

The experiments made by Raleigh and others 



62 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

had proved that planting colonies in America would 
be a very expensive undertaking. England, how- 
ever, was not willing to allow Spain to have all this 
new country; for the idea still prevailed that rich 
treasures might easily be found in America. 

With this fond hope in mind a body of merchants 
in London in 1605 formed themselves into an organi- 
zation known as the London Company. They pro- 
cured from King James a charter giving them the 
right to establish colonies anywhere in America 
between Cape Fear and the Potomac River. This 
royal grant stated that the religion of the settlers 
must be that of the Church of England, that they 
were to treat the natives kindly, and "use all means 
in their power to draw them to the true knowledge 
and love of God." 

In fitting out the first expedition of the London 
Company, Captain John Smith took an active part, 
and when in the winter of 1606 three ships set sail 
from England, Smith was among the one hun- 
dred and five men who turned their faces toward 
Virginia. 

The Atlantic was safely crossed and the colonists 
reached Virginia early in 1607. They entered 
Chesapeake Bay and before landing sailed for thirty 
miles up a broad and beautiful river. This they 
named the James in honor of their king, and for 
the same reason the little settlement was called 
Jamestown. 



JOHN SMITH 



63 



But England had not yet learned what kind of 
men were needed for a successful settlement in the 
wilderness, where trees must be cut down, houses 
built, and all kinds of rough work done. Instead of 
carpenters and laborers, the colony consisted largely 




How THE COLONISIS BUILT THEIR New HOMES 



of men who called themselves " gentlemen," who 
had been led to come over by the desire for gold. 

The colonists lacked many tools that would have 
been of great service in tilling the soil, but there 
were plenty of pickaxes for digging precious metals. 
The settlers were so confident that these were 
plentiful in Virginia, that they sent a ship load of 
yellow dirt back to England in the vain hope that 
it might turn out to be gold. 

At first Captain John Smith paid little attention 



64 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



to the management of the settlement, although he 
was one of the council selected to govern the colony. 
But as the months passed it became plain that some- 
body would have to take charge and make new laws, 
or all the colonists would perish from hunger and 
the hostility of the savages. As there seemed to be 
no one else willing or capable, Smith came forward, 
was chosen governor, and assumed full command. 

One of his first acts was to make the wise rule, 
" He who will not work shall not eat." As., all pro- 
visions were kept in a common storehouse, where 
each one had to apply for his food, this rule was 
easily enforced. It had been the custom for the 
men to help themselves to whatever remained of 
the scanty store, but now this was changed. Smith 
taught the " gentlemen " to use tools, and to culti- 
vate the land ; and he made them build log houses 
and fortifications for protection against assaults of 
the savages. 

With a few of his men he explored the Chicka- 
hominy River, and traded beads and trinkets with 
the Indians for corn to feed the half-starved col- 
onists. He still clung to a belief that the Pacific 
Ocean was not far away, and that he was likely at 
any time to find it. 

While he was out on one of these trading and 
exploring trips. Smith fell into the hands of hos- 
tile savages who were ready to put him to death. 
But he had had too much experience in danger- 



JOHN SMITH 



65 



ous positions to lose his wits. He quickly 
drew from his pocket a compass and showed 
his captors the trembling needle that always points 
to the north. This queer little instrument, so dif- 
ferent from anything the natives had ever seen, 
aroused their childlike wonder. Their curiosity got 
the better of their thirst for blood, and Smith was 
taken from one 
Indian village 
to another and 
exhibited to 
the astonished 
savages. 

One day, 
finding him- 
self not far 
from James- 
town, John 

Smith wrote on a piece of paper an account of 
his condition, and directed the Indians to carry 
it to the little settlement. The savages learned to 
their great surprise that when the white people 
had looked at the paper they knew all that had hap- 
pened. This " talking on paper " appeared to their 
simple minds as one of the greatest of wonders, 
and made them think more highly than ever of 
their captive. 

The Indian tribes into whose hands Smith had 
fallen had a powerful chief called Powhatan. In 




VIRGINIA IN EARLY DAYS 



66 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

one of the books that Captain Smith wrote long 
afterward, he told how his life was saved by Pow- 
hatan's daughter, Pocahontas, a little Indian maiden 
about twelve years of age. The savages had at last 
grown tired of their white prisoner and had decided 
to kill him. The head of the' unhappy Englishman 
was placed on a block and an Indian stood over him 
ready to strike the fatal blow. Just at that moment 
Pocahontas rushed forward, and with tears stream- 
ing down her cheeks begged her father to spare the 
white man's life, and the old chieftain, with whom 
the little maid was a great favorite, ordered the 
prisoner to be released. 

Smith finally succeeded in reaching Jamestown, 
which had suffered many hardships during his ab- 
sence. ® The little settlement was to undergo much 
more suffering before it became established beyond 
fear of failure. This, as we have seen, was in a large 
measure due to the kind of men the settlers were. 
Smith says of them in his history that they were 
"better fitted to spoil a community than to begin 
or help maintain one." 

Even with the aid of food that Captain Smith 
was able to get from the Indians, and the fish that 
could be caught, there were not enough provisions to 
go around. The river water was not fit to drink, 
and malaria lurked in the surrounding marshes. 
Fever broke out, many died, and one hard winter 
the colonists were forced to eat their horses and dogs. 



JOHN SMITH 



67 



Even by resorting to such extreme measures, there 
were times when the living were too ill and weak to 
bury the dead. 




J his titi Jus iflunl^uUnt/} 



Pocahontas saving John Smith's Life 

From " A General History of Virginia," by Captain John 
Smith. London, 1626. 



Fortunately for the new settlers, more and more 
people in England were beginning to take an in- 
terest in the project of founding a colony in America. 
At last the settlers were rejoiced to see a ship load 
of men sailing up the James River. Soon other ships 
came, and some of them brought women and children. 



68 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

More houses were built, more seeds were planted, 
and the Httle colony was firmly established. 

In 1609 Captain Smith returned to England, 
partly because of an accident, and partly be- 
cause some of the new arrivals were jealous of him, 
wishing to become governor in his place. So they 
invented charges against him and thus found an 
excuse for sending him back. 

The charges came to nothing, but Smith never 
returned to the Jamestown settlement, though 
he made several voyages to America for the purpose 
of exploring the coast. He gave the name New 
England to the shores that he explored, *and he 
carried on a profitable trade with the natives in fish 
and furs. His maps of the coast of Chesapeake Bay 
and of New England were so nearly correct that they 
were in use for more than one hundred years. 

The books written in his later days by this able 
Englishman are very interesting. His descriptions 
of America were so enthusiastic that they helped 
to attract many emigrants to these shores. 

After a life crowded with adventure on land and 
sea. Captain John Smith died in London when not 
much more than fifty years of age, and his body lies 
buried in the church of St. Sepulchre. 

In the year 16 19 there were four thousand col- 
onists in Virginia. The leaders in the colony, 
desiring to manage their own affairs, appealed to 
the London Company for permission to elect repre- 



JOHN SMITH 



69 



sentatives or " burgesses," to form an assembly to 
make laws for the colony. The request was readily 
granted and in 16 19, in the choir of the little church 
at Jamestown, the first law-making body in America 
met. This assembly was afterward called the House 
of Burgesses. 

We shall learn a little later how this first settlement 




Jamestown in 1622 
After a drawing made by Anthony Chester in 1622. 



in America came to be burned to the ground. There 
is now nothing left of Jamestown but a crumbling 
wall, but the work that Captain Smith and his com- 
panions began did not perish. As we continue to 
study, we shall learn how from the humble begin- 
ning at Jamestown, Virginia grew into a rich and 
prosperous state, and of how much service the Virgin- 
ians have been in the history of our country. 



70 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Things to Remember 

The first permanent English colony in America was planted in 
1607. 

It was at Jamestown, Virginia. 

The leading man among the founders was Captain John Smith. 

The planting of the colony at Jamestown was the first step in 
founding the American nation. 

The first law-making body in America met in Jamestown in 
1619. 

Map Work. — Locate Jamestown, Chickahominy River, Chesa- 
peake Bay. 

A 

DESCRIPTION 

of tN^y» England: 

OR 

THE OBSERVATIONS, AND 

difcouerieSjof Captain [ohnSmith(AdmiraU 

of that Country) in the North oi jimerka, in the year 

of our Lord 1 6 ' 4 : with ihefuaejfe of fixe Shifs, 

that went the next yeare 1615-, And the 

acddentsbcfdl himamongthe 

French men ofwarre: 

With the proore of the prefent benefit this 

Countreyaffoords: whither thi s prefent/ejre, 

J 6 1 6 , eight -voluntarj Ships dregone 

to make further tryall. 




At LONDON 

Printed by Humfrey Lowm, for Robert Clerke ; and 

are to be fould at his houfe called the Lodge, 

in Chancery lane, ouer againft Lin- 

colneslnne. 1 6 16. 

Facsimile of the Title-page of a Book 
WHICH John Smith wrote 



VII. POCAHONTAS AND THE INDIANS 

Pocahontas: Born about 1596 — Died 161 7 

Who will shield the fearless heart? 

Who avert the murderous blade ? 
From the throng, with sudden start, 

See, there springs an Indian maid. 
Quick she stands before the knight ; 

" Loose the chain, unbind the ring ; 

I am daughter of the King, 
And I claim the Indian right ! " 

Dauntlessly aside she flings 

Lifted ax and thirsty knife ; 
Fondly to his heart she clings. 

And her bosom guards his life ! 
In the woods of Powhatan 

Still 'tis told by Indian fires, 

How a daughter of their sires 
Saved the captive Englishman. 

— Thackeray's " Pocahontas." 

In the greater part of what we now call the 
United States, before the white people came to dis- 
turb their habits, the savages lived a roving, primi- 
tive life in the forest and along the banks of streams, 
with only wigwams for shelter. We already know 
that the Northmen called the savages Skraelings, 
because they thought them inferior to Europeans, 
and that five hundred years later Columbus named 

71 



72 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



them Indians, thinking that he had reached the 
East Indies. Sometimes the white people spoke of 
them as redskins, for they were reddish brown in 
color. 

The Indians were a tall, straight, fearless race of 
men, with small black eyes, high cheek bones, and 
coarse black hair. They liked to decorate their 




Indians broiling Fish 
After a drawing made in 1588 by John White. 

faces and bodies with bright-colored paints, using 
certain colors in times of war and others for feasts 
and festivals. Each warrior allowed one lock of his 
hair to grow long. This was the " scalp lock," which 
he was proud to adorn with eagles' feathers as tokens 
of his bravery. The chiefs sometimes wore a head- 
dress of feathers that reached nearly to the ground. 
What little clothing they needed for warmth and 
protection they made from the skins of animals. 



POCAHONTAS AND THE INDIANS 73 

On their feet they wore deerskin moccasins which 
the squaws trimmed with bright-colored embroidery, 
and with beadwork that was often very beautiful. 
The beads were tiny pieces of white and purple sea- 
shells strung upon strips of bark of the slippery elm 
tree, or on the sinews of deer. The Indians wore 
long strings of beads about their waists and necks 
and arms, and also used them for " wampum " or 
money. Sometimes many strings were joined to- 




Wampum Belt 

gether into a belt, and these wampum belts may 
now be seen in any museum that has a collection 
of Indian relics. 

As the Indians seldom stayed very long in one 
place, they made their houses so that they could be 
folded up and carried about on the backs of the 
hunting dogs. These tents, or wigwams as they 
were called, were circular or oblong in shape. 
They were made of strips of bark or hides of ani- 
mals firmly sewed together and stretched over poles. 
At the top of the wigwam was an opening to allow 
the smoke to escape from the fire which was built 
in the center. On the cold winter nights the In- 
dian boys and girls liked to sit before the wigwam 



74 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



fire and watch their elders smoke their long pipes, 
and hear them tell stories of good and evil spirits, 
and of their own deeds of valor. 

There was very little furniture in the wigwams. 

Blankets made of 
animals' skins served 
for bed covering, and 
the bare floor or the 
soft green grass an- 
swered for beds, 
chairs, and dining 
tables. Dry sticks 
rubbed together until 
they produced a spark 
were used as matches 
to light the fire, and 
for cooking utensils 
crude kettles were 
fashioned from stone 
or clay. Large seashells made excellent plates and 
platters. 

The Indians' food was chiefly game and fish, but 
they also had little gardens in which they raised 
maize, or Indian corn, and sometimes beans and 
squash. The squaws did all the work in the gar- 
dens, their only tool being a stone, or clam-shell hoe. 
The braves thought it was but right that the squaws 
should do the gardening, as their own time was 
needed for killing game and for fighting, which was 
their chief occupation. 




Palisaded Indian Village on Albe 
MARLE Sound in 1585 



POCAHONTAS AND THE INDIANS 



75 



The various tribes were constantly at war with 
one another. Their weapons were swift-flying, flint- 
tipped arrows, and stone knives and tomahawks. 




Indian Bow and Arrows 

To this day the Indian arrowheads are dug up from 
time to time in our pastures. 

When he was not fighting, the Indian spent his 
days in hunting and fishing, or in building canoes. 
These were made of birch bark or of skins, and some- 
times were hewn from solid logs. The bark and 
skin canoes were very light in weight, yet strong and 
swift. They were jpTp 
managed with great iiiill.ij 
skill in dangerous cur- 
rents and rough water. 

The Indians de- 
lio^hted in feasts and 




A Tomahawk 

For amusements 



festivals. 

they played ball, ran races, threw quoits, and had 
many other games not unlike our own. The 
famous game of Lacrosse was invented by the 
Indians. In their sports and games, as in warfare, 
they were often crafty and cruel. 

The "talking pages," as the Indians called the 
books of the palefaces, were meaningless to savages. 
A rude kind of picture-writing served their simple 



76 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

purposes. An Indian boy had no school to attend, 
but was taught to use the bow and arrow and toma- 
hawk, and to paddle a canoe. He learned also self- 
control and to bear pain silently, as the savages had 
great contempt for any one who could not endure 
torture without a sound. The little girls, some of 
whom were exceedingly pretty, helped in the work 
of the wigwams and in the care of the corn ground. 
They learned early how to string beads and to make 
moccasins. 

By instinct an Indian child could find his way 
through thick woods where a white child would have 
been hopelessly lost. The savages had no roads, 
for they had no wagons or horses or oxen. Their 
only animals were hunting dogs. Their trained eyes 
were keen and their sense of direction accurate. 
They knew how to avoid steep hills and troublesome 
swamps, and many of our roads and railways, as 
for example, the New York Central Railroad, follow 
the old .Indian trails through the wilderness. 

Each tribe or nation held its own land, and had its 
chief, and some of the tribes were governed by wise 
laws. The religion of the Indians was simple. In 
a vague way they believed in "spirits" and thought 
that every plant and animal as well as every human 
being possessed one. Sometimes they talked of a 
Great Spirit that watched over the world. They 
had many fantastic dances as a part of their religious 
ceremony. They knew how to make use of healing 



POCAHONTAS AND THE INDIANS 



77 



herbs in sickness ; but their " medicine men " often 
resorted to sorcery. 

The EngHsh colonists learned many valuable 
things from the Indians. The red man taught the 
paleface to girdle the tall trees so that they would 
die, and thus admit light and sun to make the corn 
and vegetables grow ; and to fertilize the corn by 
putting a dead fish in each hill where it was planted. 
From their dark-skinned 



neighbors 



the 



English- 




IxDiAX Canoe and TEXXi 



men learned to make maple sugar, to spear fish 
through the ice in winter, and to make moccasins 
and snowshoes. They learned also new methods 
of warfare. 

As we know, Pocahontas was the daughter of 
Powhatan, a powerful chief among the Indians in the 
vicinity of Jamestown. We have learned, too, that 
Captain John Smith said she saved his life at a time 



78 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



when the Indians were preparing to put him to 
death. 

After Smith had been released by his Indian cap- 
tors and permitted to join his companions, Poca- 
hontas came frequently to the Jamestown settlement, 
bringing corn to the famished Englishmen. She 

grew very fond of Smith and 
his white friends, and they 
in turn liked to have her 
visit them. Once she gave 
warning of an attack the 
Indians were preparing to 
make upon them, and so 
prevented the colonists from 
being surprised and mas- 
sacred. 

Soon after Captain Smith 
went back to England in 

From the portraTtTooton painted 1 609 thcSCttlerS had frCSh 
in England shortly before she trouble with the nativCS. 
died. ^^ ^. 

1 he new governor, Sir 
Samuel Argall, was a selfish, dishonorable man, 
who cared for nothing except getting money for 
his own pocket. He took all the corn that the colo- 
nists could raise, loaded it on ships, and sent it to 
England, where it was sold at a profit ; but not a 
cent did the poor settlers get. 

As Argall did not allow his conscience to trouble 
him, you can understand how he could plot with a 




Pocahontas 



POCAHONTAS AND THE INDIANS 79 

treacherous Indian for the capture of Pocahontas. 
She was stolen from her fond old father and delivered 
into the hands of the tricky governor. Again and 
again the grief-stricken Powhatan tried, by pleading, 
threat, or offer of ransom, to get his daughter back, 
but the English would not give her up. 

Pocahontas had by this time grown to be a charm- 
ing, graceful young woman. She became a great 
favorite in the English settlement and one of the 
young colonists, John Rolfe, fell in love with her. 

Now King James had said in his charter to the 
colony that there was to be no religion except that of 
the Episcopal Church. Pocahontas was called a 
heathen, and therefore Rolfe could not marry her 
until she became a Christian. Accordingly, in 1614, 
in the rough little log church at Jamestown, Poca- 
hontas was christened and given the name Rebecca, 
after which, in broken English, she took the marriage 
vows and became the wife of John Rolfe. 

Rolfe was the first Englishman who had ventured 
to wed an Indian girl. Powhatan was much pleased 
because his daughter had married a white man. He 
forgave the palefaces and became their friend. For a 
long time the settlers had nothing more to fear from 
attacks of his tribe. As Longfellow says in the 
" Song of Hiawatha " : — 

" Buried was the bloody hatchet, 
Buried was the dreadful war-club, 
Buried were all warlike weapons, 
And the war-cry was forgotten. 



8o FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

There was peace among the nations ; 
Unmolested roved the hunters, 
Built the birch canoe for sailing, 
Caught the fish in lake and river, 
Shot the deer and trapped the beaver ; 
Unmolested worked the women, 
Made their sugar from the maple. 
Gathered wild rice in the meadows. 
Dressed the skins of deer and beaver." 

In 1612, five years after John Smith had estab- 
Hshed the colony at Jamestown, John Rolfe planted 
the first tobacco. Before that time the emigrants 
had cultivated only corn and a few other vegetables. 
Rolfe's tobacco crop was a great success and sold 
in England at a handsome profit. 

At last a way had been found to earn money, 
and all the colonists were now eager to raise the 
tobacco plant and send it to Europe. From that 
time forward the colony increased rapidly in num- 
bers and Jamestown became prosperous. So anxious 
were the settlers to put every foot of land under 
the cultivation of tobacco, that it was finally neces- 
sary to pass a law compelling them to plant enough 
corn for food. 

In connection with tobacco-raising there is another 
thing that history forces us to remember — the in- 
troduction of slavery into Virginia. It was difficult 
to find enough laborers to care for the enormous 
quantity of tobacco that England was willing to 
buy. Orphans were taken from asylums in England 



POCAHONTAS AND THE INDIANS 8i 

and even convicts from jails, but Jamestown still had 
need for more workers. In 1619a Dutch ship sailed 
up the James River with a cargo of twenty negroes 
who were sold as slaves to the Englishmen. This 
was the beginning of slavery in the South, and it 
quickly spread, until, as the years went on, slaves 
were found in every colony. 

Before the opening of this sad chapter in Ameri- 
can history, John Rolfe and his wife sailed for Eng- 
land. The English people were so accustomed to 
kings and princesses that they called Powhatan an 
Indian king and Pocahontas a princess. It is said 
that King James was deeply offended because Rolfe 
had dared to marry a foreign princess. The Eng- 
lish, however, were eager to see one of the natives 
of the New World about which they had heard so 
much, and they treated Pocahontas with great kind- 
ness. At last King James relented and the Indian 
"princess" was presented at court. How rejoiced 
her tribe would have been, could they have seen 
their favorite thus honored ; and how they would 
have exulted in the sight of the bright-colored robes 
and sparkling jewels worn by the lords and ladies ! 

Pocahontas never came back to her dear Virginia, 
never again spoke her own language with the 
redskins. As she was preparing to sail for America 
with her husband and infant son, she was taken ill, 
and died at Gravesend, England, in 161 7. 

Rolfe returned with his boy to Jamestown and 



82 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

continued to cultivate tobacco, although the king 
wrote a book against the " vile weed " and denounced 
it in Parliament. The young planter became 
secretary, and later recorder general, of Virginia. 
The son, Thomas, grew to a prosperous manhood. 
He was a useful and influential citizen and some of 
the best families in Virginia to-day proudly trace 
their ancestry back to the Indian Pocahontas. 

Things to Remember 

The red men were called Indians because the Spaniards who 
first came to this country beheved that the islands on which they 
landed were the East Indies. 

The Indians who dwelt in what is now the United States were 
savages. They lived mainly by hunting and fishing, and knew 
little of agriculture and nothing of manufacturing. 

They were divided into tribes, and each tribe was ruled by a 
chief. 

Pocahontas, the daughter of a powerful Indian chief, Powhatan, 
married John Rolfe, an Englishman. 

In 1612 John Rolfe planted the first tobacco in Virginia. 

The raising of large quantities of tobacco led in 16 19 to the 
introduction of slavery. 

Memory Selection. — Thackeray's " Pocahontas." 



VIII. MILES STANDISH AND THE PIL- 
GRIMS 

Standish : Born about 1584 — Died 1656 

The breaking waves dashed high 

On a stern and rock-bound coast, 
And the woods against a stormy sky 

Their giant branches tossed ; 

And the heavy night hung dark 

The hills and waters o'er, 
When a band of exiles moored their bark 

On the wild New England shore. 



Ay, call it holy ground, 

The soil where first they trod. 
They left unstained what there they found, — 

Freedom to worship God. 
— Mrs. Hemans's " The Landing of the Pilgrims." 

Can you picture a short man with broad shoulders, 
blue eyes, and reddish hair ; with muscles as strong 
as iron, and face bronzed by exposure to wind and 
sun ? He is dressed in a doublet, close-fitting 
knee breeches, and high leather boots. His breast- 
plate is of steel, and by his side there hangs a sword, 
curved at the point and ornamented with Arabic 
letters. 

83 



84 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

This man is Miles Standish, a brave, true-hearted 
Eno^Hsh soldier who in 1620 came to America with 
the Pilgrims, the first English settlers on the "stern 
and rock-bound " New England coast. 

Captain John Smith has often been called the 
Father of Virginia, because his hardihood, pluck, 

and common sense saved 
the life of the first Vir- 
ginia settlement. In the 
same way Miles Standish 
may be regarded as one 
of the fathers of Massa- 
chusetts. 

He was fond of fight- 
inor and of adventure, and 
he^ came to America for 
no other reason than to 
Mills stvndish j^^jp ^|-^g Pilgrims in their 

task of making a new home in the forest wilds. 
He did not share the religious beliefs that drove 
this little body of emigrants to America. He came 
as their friend and helper, and his sagacity and 
bravery in dealing with the Indians once saved 
their lives, as we shall read later in this chapter. 

The Standish family had lived for many years at 
Duxbury Hall, Lancashire, England, and many of 
its members had been knighted for brave deeds. 
Miles fought with the English army in France and 
Holland, where he proved his worth and was made 




MILES STANDISH 85 

a captain. He happened to be living in Leyden, 
Holland, when the Pilgrims fled from England to 
that country, and Standish and his wife, Rose, be- 
came their warm friends. 

What was it that led these English men and 
women to abandon their homes and seek shelter 
first in Holland and then in America ? It was- the 
desire for freedom to worship God in whatever way 
they chose. 

In common with most rulers of his time King 
James was tyrannical in matters of religion. He 
would not permit his subjects to use a form of serv- 
ice that differed in any way from that of the Estab- 
lished, or Episcopal, Church, and every one was 
made to pay a fine if he did not attend church. 
There were many who preferred a simpler service, 
and at last they left the Church and dared to worship 
in their own way. For this they were called Sepa- 
ratists, because they " separated " from the estab- 
lished form of worship. 

The king was so angry with the Separatists that 
he punished them in every possible manner. He 
even went so far as to throw some of them into 
prison, where they languished and died. Others 
were driven from place to place by his persecutions, 
so they came finally to be called Pilgrims or 
Wanderers. 

A small band of these people collected at Scrooby 
in Nottinghamshire, but the tyranny of King James 



86 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

pursued them. Many were seized and put into prison, 
and all were hunted and persecuted in one way or 
another. They therefore resolved, in 1608, to for- 
sake their country and take refuge in Holland, 
where they knew that they would find the religious 
liberty they desired. 

The Dutch treated the Pilgrims kindly. For 
twelve years, first at Amsterdam and later at Ley- 
den, the little English community lived in peace. 
But there were reasons why the Pilgrims did not 
care to remain permanently in Holland. In spite 
of all they had suffered, they still loved their country, 
and wished their children to grow to manhood and 
womanhood using the speech and customs of Eng- 
land. This they could not do while they remained 
in Holland, surrounded by people who spoke the 
Dutch language and whose manners and habits 
were Dutch. 

So at last this little band of exiles resolved to 
make another effort to find a suitable home. " Let 
us cross the ocean," said they, " and found a new 
England in America. There land is plentiful and 
w^e may live unmolested. We shall have freedom 
to worship as we wish, and opportunity to bring up 
our children in accordance with our own ideas." 

They therefore procured permission from the 
London Company to settle on the coast of what is 
now New Jersey. The Pilgrims well knew that 
a difficult and dangerous undertaking lay be- 



MILES STANDISH 



87 



fore them, and it was thought unwise for the whole 
Leyden community to go. Among the men and 
women chosen to make the experiment were Miles 
and Rose Standish. 

When the little Speedwell ^diW^d out of Delft Haven 
with her brave company, sad and tearful were the 




Map of Holland and a Part of England 

partings of families and friends. Even the Dutch 
on-lookers wept in sympathy. At Southampton, 
England, the Speedwell was joined by the May/lower, 
and both ships set out to cross the ocean ; but after 
they had "gone to sea again about one hundred 
leagues without the Land's End," the Speedwell be- 
gan to leak so badly that it was necessary to put 
back. The disheartened Pilgrims were obliged to 
admit that she was totally unfit for the long and 



88 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

perilous voyage. So the Speedwell was abandoned. 
Some of her passengers remained behind in Eng- 
land, and the rest crowded on board the Mayflower, 
raising the number of passengers to about one 
hundred. 

In the pleasant month of September in the year 
1620, this good ship with her precious cargo again 
left Southampton. For many long weeks she was 
tossed by heavy gales and towering waves. Only a 
few men dared venture on deck; the rest were 
crowded into the ill-ventilated cabin, far too small 
for the number it sheltered. 

The intention had been to land near the Delaware 
River, but the captain was carried out of his course, 
and on the 21st of November found himself among the 
shoals of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Through Cap- 
tain John Smith's explorations of the New England 
coast the Pilgrims had heard of the cold winters in 
that region. They had, therefore, wished to settle 
farther south ; but all were eager to begin life in the 
new home and it w^as decided to remain at Cape 
Cod. At what point should they land .^^ There 
must be an abundant supply of fresh water, and soil 
free from rocks and stones. 

For four or five weeks the Mayflower skirted the 
coast in the neighborhood of Provincetown, while 
a few of the men in a shallop explored the shore. 
The little shallop ran upon "dangerous shoals and 
roaring breakers"; but, with rudder lost and mast 



MILES STANDISH 89 

and sail gone, it kept to its task until a spot had 
been selected. 

Miles Standish was the man who chose the site 
for the new settlement. The land had been cleared 
to some extent by the Indians, and there was a 
spring of pure water near. Moreover, while ex- 




Departure of the Pilgrims from Delft Haven 
After the painting by Cope. 

ploring inland, the Pilgrims had discovered several 
mounds which were found to contain a quantity of 
corn. This was indeed a welcome sight, and the 
Englishmen had great need of it before the winter 
was over. To their credit be it said that some time 
afterward they found the Indians to whom the corn 
belonged and paid them for it. 



90 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

This place was down on Captain Smith's map as 
Plymouth, and here the people of the Mayflower 
came ashore on the 21st of December, 1620. 
While near Provincetown they had drawn up in the 
cabin of the Mayflower a solemn compact in which 
the Pilgrims agreed to enact just and equal laws, 
which all should obey for the general good of the 
colony. John Carver was chosen governor. 

The water at Plymouth was so shallow that even 
the shallop could not run up to the bank, and the 
Pilgrims stepped first on a rotk, and then to solid 
ground. There is still shown at Plymouth a rock 
which is said to be the one which the Pilgrims 
used as a stepping-stone. 

The little band of wanderers came ashore in a 
storm of sleet and wind. The snow lay deep upon 
the winter woods, the ground was frozen, and the 
Pilgrims suffered intensely while they cut down 
trees and built a log house. At first they all lived 
together in one cabin. 

• Soon food became scarce, and many fell sick from 
lack of nourishment or from exposure. Through- 
out that first hard winter Miles Standish showed 
that he could be gentle and tender as well as brave. 
At one time there were only six or seven well 
people in Plymouth, and Standish was one of these. 
He helped prepare what little food there was, and 
carefully nursed the sick. Before the spring sun 
shone, more than onfe half of the Pilgrims had been 



MILES STANDISH 



91 



laid beneath the snow, and among them was Rose 
Standish, the wife of the brave captain. 

Though no Indians came to molest them, the 
Pilgrims lived in constant fear of attack. Graves 
were smoothed to a level with the ground, and over 
them in the spring corn was planted, in order that 







,,... 


■ IKS 


i^-^m 


^Mi'/>* 


->^^ 


*^ '■ '^Fl"^^^ 




•f 1 -- 


^- '7 , -^-^^ 




v-jr 


l^i^^jl 


, 1/ 


■ -' - .* 


. -■ 





Signing the Compact in the Cabin of the "Mayflower" 

the natives might not know how many white men 
had died. The guns of the Pilgrims were their 
constant companions, and were carried even to the 
church services, held in the little cabin that served 
as both church and fort. 

At last the dreary winter was over. With the 
coming of the warm sunshine, the blooming of 
flowers, and the singing of birds, the Pilgrims took 
heart. When the Mayflower sailed for home, not 
one of the number would return. To persevere in 



92 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

the face of all obstacles is the Pilgrims' great lesson 
to America. 

The settlers were astonished one day at having an 
Indian rush into their settlement and cry, " Wel- 
come, Englishmen ! " This was Samoset, who had 
learned a few words of English from fishermen. 
Soon Samoset made a second visit, and this time 
brought an Indian named Squanto, who had been 
captured and taken to England, where he learned 
the language and habits of civilized people. 

Then Massasoit, chief of the tribe of Wampanoags, 
appeared with fifty or sixty warriors gaily decorated 
with paint and feathers. Squanto acted as inter- 
preter, and the palefaces and redskins had a friendly 
conference. According to the Indian custom, a pipe 
of peace was smoked ; then an agreement was made 
by which the Indians and the English promised 
to treat each other as friends. This treaty of peace 
was kept for fifty years. The Indians not only did 
no harm to the white people, but helped them in 
every way, and Squanto expressed a wish to live 
with the Pilgrims. He died among them, and his 
last words were : " Pray that the Indian Squanto 
may go to the white man's heaven." 

About twenty miles from Plymouth there dwelt a 
tribe of Indians that hated Massasoit. These were 
the Narragansetts, and their chief was Canonicus. 
*' Why should I let these paleface friends of my 
enemy live in peace ? " thought Canonicus. Accord- 



MILES STANDISH 



93 



ingly he sent to the Pilgrims a bundle of arrows 
wrapped in the skin of a rattlesnake. This was a 
declaration of war. Governor Bradford, who had 
succeeded Governor Carver, and Miles Standish 
were not men to be frightened easily ; they filled the 
skin with powder and shot and sent it back. 




The "Mayflower" in Plymouth Harbor 
After the painting by Hallsall, 

It happened that Canonicus had heard of the won- 
derful guns of the white men, and he had no desire to 
get in their way. When he found, therefore, that 
the Englishmen were willing to fight, he gave up 
the idea of attack. 

One day Massasoit came with a thrilling piece of 
news — some Indians of still another tribe were plot- 
ting to massacre the white settlers. Captain Stand- 



94 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

ish assembled a company of men well armed with 
muskets and swords, and marched to meet the sav- 
ages. We may read about it in Longfellow's poem : 

" Meantime the stalwart Miles Standish was marching steadily 

northward, 
Winding through forest and swamp, and along the trend of the 

seashore. 



After a three days' march he came to an Indian encampment 

Pitched on the edge of a meadow, between the sea and the 
forest ; 

Women at work by the tents, and the warriors horrid with war- 
paint 

Seated about a fire, and smoking and talking together ; 

Who, when they saw from afar the sudden approach of the white 
men, 

Saw the flash of the sun on breastplate and saber and musket. 

Straightway leaped to their feet, and two from among them ad- 
vancing 

Came to parley with Standish, and offer him furs as a present ; 

Friendship was in their looks, but in their hearts there was hatred." 

Pecksuot, the Indian leader, grew very insolent 
when he saw that the white captain was a man of small 
stature. He called Standish a boy, and said that his 
place was at home helping the women, and not fight- 
ing Indians. Standish quickly decided that, if there 
had to be bloodshed, the sooner it was over the bet- 
ter, and it was not long before the savages were so 
astonished by the power of this " Little Captain " 
that they decided to keep peace. 



MILES STANDISH 



95 



When the golden autumn came the Pilgrims had 
reason to be happy and grateful. A separate log 
house had been built for each family, the cornfields 
had prospered, and game was plentiful. They de- 
cided to have a feast and to ask Massasoit and his 
people to come and join them. The Indians brought 
deer, the Pilgrims shot wild turkey, there was sea 




Pilgrim Fort and Meeting-house 

food and corn in abundance ; and thus began the 
custom of setting aside a day of Thanksgiving each 
year. Let us remember that the first celebration of 
this kind was eaten at rude tables in the New 
England wilderness, with Indians for guests. 

Other Pilgrims from Holland soon joined the first 
Plymouth settlement and it grew and prospered. 
The energetic Captain Standish did his full share of 
work of every kind, and after a time he went back 



96 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

to England to borrow money to help the colonists. 

The log cabins of the Pilgrims were very simple ; 
they had fireplaces and chimneys of rough stone. 
Oiled paper was used for window-panes, and chests 
which the emigrants had brought with them from 
England served as chairs and benches. 

After cabins were built the Pilgrims' next care 
was to erect a church and schoolhouse, and not 
much time was allowed the children for play by 
these serious, hard-working fathers and mothers. 

Every Sunday morning the people were called to 
worship by the beating of a drum. A sentinel in a 
suit of armor stood near the meeting-house to watch 
for Indians and, if necessary, to give the alarm to the 
worshipers. As the men filed into the building they 
left their muskets with the sentinel. Sometimes 
the services lasted three or four hours. A con- 
stable with a long wand, on one end of which was a 
hare's foot, was on duty to keep the worshipers awake. 
It is said that when grown-up persons went to sleep, 
the constable would touch them gently on the fore- 
head with the hare's foot; but if a child nodded, 
he was rapped with the other end of the wand, not 
so gently. 

After the Plymouth colony was well established. 
Miles Standish planted a little settlement near by, 
which he named Duxbury in memory of his English 
home. Here he died after a long and useful life. 

In Duxbury there has been erected to his memory 



MILES STANDISH 



97 



a granite monument one hundred feet high, with a 
statue of the heroic captain looking out over the sea 
he so daringly crossed to help others find a home of 
freedom. If you ever visit Plymouth, do not fail to 
look at the interesting relics of the Pilgrims pre- 
served there. You will find among them the trusty 
sword of Miles Standish. 

Things to Remember 

The Pilgrims were a band of Englishmen who were driven out 
of their country by religious persecution. 

They came to America in the year 1620 in the ship Mayflower. 

They planted a colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

Miles Standish helped to establish the settlement at Plymouth, 
and to prevent its being destroyed by the Indians. 

The establishment of Plymouth colony was the second step in 
founding a new nation in America. 

The first Thanksgiving in this country was observed by the 
Pilgrims at Plymouth in 162 1. 

Map Work. — Locate Scrooby, Leyden, Delft Haven, Plymouth 
in England, Cape Cod, Plymouth in New England. 

Memory Selections. — Hemans's " The Landing of the Pilgrims." 
Whittier's " The Corn Song." 




The Sword of Miles Standiss 
In Pilgrim H^,!!, Plymouth. 



IX. JOHN WINTHROP AND THE 
PURITANS 

Winthrop : Born 1583 — Died 1649 

" Praise ye the Lord ! " The psahii to-day 

Still rises in our ears. 
Borne from the hills of Boston Bay 

Through five times fifty years, 
When Winthrop's fleet from Yarmouth crept 

Out to the open main, 
And through the widening waters swept, 
In April sun and rain. 

" Pray to the Lord with fervent lips," 

The leader shouted, " pray; " 
And prayer arose from all the ships 
As faded Yarmouth Bay. 
— Butterworth's "The Thanksgiving in Boston Harbor." 

We have now learned that before 1630 the Eng- 
lish had two footholds in the New World — one on 
the shore of Virginia and the other in what we now 
call the state of Massachusetts. Let us see what 
was the next important step in the colonization of 
America by the English. 

Nearly ten years passed after the Pilgrims landed 
in New England before they were joined by the 
Puritans. In 1630 the Pilgrim colonists numbered 
in all but three hundred — a small group to dwell in 
a wilderness inhabited by savages. They did not 

98 



JOHN WINTHROP ' 99 

regret the step they had taken, or falter in their 
resolve to make America their home ; but aching 
hearts were often hidden by stern faces, and home- 
sick eyes rested longingly on the dark waters. On 
the other side lay the mother country, with its well- 
loved towns, and streams, and farm lands, and there 
were homesteads and friends. 

But the years of their solitude were drawing 
to a close ; for other Eno^lishmen were cominor 
to keep the Pilgrims company, to form new colonies, 
and to unite with them in a common defense when 
the natives became hostile. 

Who were these new colonists, and what caused 
them to come to America.^ They were called 
Puritans, because they wished to change or ptirify 
some of the forms of the English church service 
and church government. Neither King James, nor 
Charles I, who succeeded him, would allow any 
liberty in religion or politics. " I will make them 
conform to my ways," said King James, " or I will 
harry them out of the land." 

Both monarchs were to find that the Pilgrims and 
Puritans were willing to be harried out of the land 
rather than submit to the harsh laws of their royal 
rulers. The Puritans, therefore, left England, as 
the Pilgrims had done, because they desired greater 
religious and political freedom than it was possible 
for them to have at home. 

While the Pilgrims had been practically cut off 



loo FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




An Old House in Salem 



from the rest of the world, they managed sometimes 
to send letters home by the Englishmen who had 
fisheries on the New England coast. From these 
letters, as well as from the fishermen themselves, 
the Puritans heard descriptions of America, of its 

vast acres of rich land 
ready for the plow, 
and of the abundant 
" fish and game and 
fur-bearing animals. 
So they, too, at length 
decided to come to 
this new country. 
The first of the 
Puritans came over in 1628 under John Endicott. 
They settled north of Plymouth, and gave to their 
little colony the Bible name of Salem, meaning 
" peace." The Indians called this whole region 
Massachusetts, or the Land of the Blue Hills. 

Two years later a company larger by far than 
any that had yet left England for this country, 
was headed by John Winthrop. He was a gentle- 
man of wealth, a descendant of a fine old family 
living near Groton, England, a man of strong mind 
and high moral character. Always deeply religious, 
he had studied for the ministry, but to please his 
father had given it up for the law. He held the 
ofiice of justice of the peace before he was eighteen 
years of age. 



JOHN WINTHROP 



lOI 



As the years passed John Winthrop grew tired of 
the despotism of the king. At last, in 1629, he 
met with about a dozen companions, and after serious 
discussion they resolved that " for God's glory and 
the country's good " they would " pass the seas under 
God's protection to inhabit 
and continue in New Eng- 
land." 

They had little difficulty 
in obtaining from the king 
a charter granting them per- 
mission to establish a new 
colony with the right to make 
their own laws. Their cor- 
poration was called the Mas- 
sachusetts Bay Company, and 
their leader, John Winthrop, 
was appointed first governor 
of the Massachusetts colony. 

This large Puritan migration which set out in 
1630 was very different from that of the Pilgrims of 
ten years before. The little Mayflower had alone 
borne the Pilgrims across the Atlantic. This same 
Mayflower was now one of the ships of the Puritan 
fleet that sailed happily out of Yarmouth Bay; but 
there were ten others to keep her company. The 
Arabella was the one in which Winthrop crossed. 

From March until June they sailed across the 
ocean, and then : — 




John Winthrop 

From the portrait by Van Dyck in 
the Senate Chamber of Massa- 
chusetts. 



I02 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

" ' Praise ye the Lord with fervent Hps, 
Praise ye the Lord to-day,' 
The anthem rose from all the ships 
Safe moored in Boston Bay. 

The Ai-abella leads the song, — 

The Mayflower sings below. 
That first the Pilgrims bore along 

The Plymouth reefs of snow." 

In the eleven ships were seven hundred men and 
women. There were horses and cattle, tools of 
many kinds, powder and shot, grain and seed, cloth- 
ing and provisions. 

Far different, too, from the winter desolation of 
the coast on which the Pilgrims first set foot, was 
the sight that greeted the Puritans when they ar- 
rived in the pleasant summer of 1630. It was the 
month of June ; flowers were holding up their 
bright faces and filling the air with perfume, straw- 
berries were ripening, and better than all, Endicott 
and his companions at Salem were waiting to give 
them welcome. 

Winthrop did not remain at Salem, but estab- 
lished his little community at Charlestown. It was 
soon found, however, that the water there was im- 
pure, and many died from its unwholesome effects. 
Across the river from Charlestown was a piece of 
land consisting of three hills. This was known as 
Tri-mountain, a name afterward shortened to 
Tremont. 



JOHN WINTHROP 



103 



To TrI-mountain Governor Winthrop moved his 
colony, and the place was called Boston, after a fine 
old city in England, which many of the settlers 
knew and loved. On the highest of the three hills 
a beacon light was set to pilot ships coming into the 




W -^^^'A 



The Land of the Pilgrims and Puritans 



harbor, and from this point beacon fires gave the 
signal of danger from Indian attacks. It is still 
called Beacon Hill, and one of Boston's chief thor- 
oughfares is known as Beacon Street. 

The Puritans' first winter in New England was 
almost as severe as had been that of the Pilgrims. 



I04 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

The new settlers were not accustomed to the hard- 
ships of life in a strange, cold wilderness, and their 
provisions ran short. One of the men wrote : " Bread 
was so very scarce that sometimes I thought the 
very crumbs of my father's table would be sweet unto 
me." 

There came a day in midwinter when even Gov- 
ernor Winthrop's corn meal was reduced to a quart, 
and this he shared with a man poorer than himself. 
Happily, in that very hour, the hungry Puritans 
were cheered by the sight of an English ship sailing 
into Boston harbor. More Puritans with an abun- 
dant food supply had come to join the colonists. 

Although two hundred died during that first bit- 
ter winter, Winthrop, calm, courageous, and ener- 
getic, never lost heart. He helped with his own 
hands to do whatever labor was to be performed, 
and his example of patience and endurance did more 
than anything else to cheer and save the colony. 

Many more emigrants arrived in the spring, the 
outlook brightened, and from that time the Massa- | 
chusetts colony steadily grew. During the next ten 
years more than twenty thousand persons flocked to 
New England, and settlements were started at 
Watertown, Roxbury, and other places near Boston. 

To each person who subscribed fifty pounds — 
about two hundred and fifty dollars — toward a 
colony, was given two hundred acres of land ; but 
the Puritans did not depend entirely upon agricul- 



JOHN WINTHROP 



105 



ture. They became shipbuilders, engaged in com- 
merce with the West Indies, and estabhshed fish- 
eries at Newfoundland, which were so successful that 
the codfish became the emblem of wealth in Massa- 
chusetts. To-day a golden codfish may be seen in 
the State Capitol at 
Boston, showing that 
it is still a symbol of 
prosperity. How as- 
tonished the Puritans 
w^ould have been, could 
they have foreseen that 
in the year 1905 the 
codfish catch of North 
America would be 
w^orth more than 
twelve million dollars. 

The Puritans be- 
lieved that they had a perfect right to the land be- 
cause it had been given them by the king, and they 
therefore did not hesitate to take from the Indians, 
without paying for it, all they desired. When one 
of their number, a clergyman named Roger Williams, 
dared to insist that the Indians should be paid, the 
Puritans were very indignant. 

When Roger Williams further said that the Pu- 
ritans had no right to punish those colonists who did 
not attend church, he was turned out of the colony; 
yet his advice was often sought and followed by 




Beacon Hill, Boston, in 1640 



io6 FIRST COURSE IN AMEklCAN HISTORY 

Governor Winthrop and his colonists. The Puri- 
tans were no more willing to grant freedom to 
those whose views differed from their own, than the 
heads of the Episcopal Church in England had been. 
But the Puritans felt that they had suffered so much 
for their faith that they had a right to maintain it 
at any cost. 

The custom of holding town meetings, now so 
general, was first established by the Pilgrims and 
Puritans. The town meeting was the beginning of 
government by the people without the aid of kings. 
Each colony held its own meeting in either the 
church or schoolhouse and no man was allowed to 
vote at town meeting unless he was a church mem- 
ber. The colonists selected their own governor, dep- 
uty governor, and a council of eighteen men to make 
the necessary laws. At first the council managed 
all public affairs, but after a few years there was a 
General Court or legislature elected to make the laws. 

One of the wisest acts of the Puritans, and one 
which had a far-reaching result, was the early estab- 
lishment of schools. Many of the colonists were 
college-bred men, and they desired their children to 
be educated. They said: "In order that learning 
may not be buried in the graves of our fathers we 
will establish free schools." 

In 1647, only nineteen years after the landing of 
the Puritans, the General Court passed a law requir- 
ing that there should be a school in every town hav- 



JOHN WINTHROP 



107 



ing fifty or more householders ; and thus was laid 
the foundation of the present free school system of 
the United States. These schools of the Puritans, 
we must not forget, were for boys only. Girls then 
and for many years afterward were taught at home. 

Six years is a very short time in which to estab- 
lish a town on the shores of a wilderness and bring 
it to such a condition that 
a college may be thought 
of; and yet this is exactly 
what Governor Winthrop 
and the Puritans 
did at Boston. 
Only six years after 
they landed they 
set aside a fund for 
the founding of a 
college. The 

amount of money 
was not large, but ^'^'' ^^^^ ^"^^" ^^ ^°^^""' '''' 
two years later John Harvard died in Charlestown, 
leaving his library and half of his estate to aid in 
carrying out the plan. Such was the beginning of 
Harvard College. 

John Winthrop was more than forty years of age 
when he came to America. From that time until 
his death, nineteen years later, he nev^er ceased to 
work for the good of the Massachusetts colony, and 
for twelve years he served as its governor. In his 





I Jl Wll -^, MH mm v;; mr- 



y 



io8 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

busy life he found time to write many books, one 
of them a " History of Massachusetts." 

He died in Boston, deeply loved by friends in 
England and America for his devotion to what he 




An Early View of Harvard College 



believed to be his duty, and for his patience and 
kindness. Some one has said of him : "Among the 
millions of men descended from those whom he 
ruled, there is no one who does not owe much of 
what is best within him to the benevolent and 
courageous wisdom of John Winthrop." 

As we follow the fortunes of the United States 
through the years that have passed since John 
Winthrop founded Boston, we shall learn of the 
prominent ai^d useful part Massachusetts has always 
taken in the affairs of the nation, 



JOHN WINTHROP 109 

Things to Remember 

The Puritans were Englishmen who, like the Pilgrims, left their 
native country because they desired greater religious and political 
liberty. 

The first Puritan settlement in New England was planted at 
Salem, Massachusetts, in 1628. 

The chief figure in the early life of Massachusetts was Governor 
John Winthrop. 

Governor Winthrop founded a much larger colony at Boston in 
1630. 

Harvard College was founded only six years after the Puritans 
settled at Boston. 

To the Pilgrims and Puritans the United States owes the beginning 
of its present free school system, and its system of government by 
the people. 

Map Work. — Locate Salem, Charlestovvn, Boston, Cambridge, 
Dorchester, Watertown. 



X. HENRY HUDSON 

Born about 1566 — Died 1611 

There we moored our vessel safely from the swirling autumn tides, 
And the red men in their shallops came and stroked her salty 

sides ; 
As they marveled at her hugeness, of our friendship grew they fain, 
And they brought us pipes of copper, mellow grapes, and yellow 

grain. 
When I questioned them for tidings of our much-desired goal, 
Though their savage tongue I knew not, yet they beckoned toward 

the Pole. 
So we heaved the Half Moon's anchor, and we got her under way, 
And we shaped our voyage Northward for the harbors of Cathay. 
— Guiterman's "Hudson's Third Voyage." 

While Captain John Smith was working hard in 
Virginia to keep alive the Httle Jamestown colony, 
his friend Henry Hudson, in 1609, discovered and 
explored the river that bears his name. There are 
few more beautiful rivers in the world than this 
broad stream that flows through what we now know 
as the state of New York. 

Hudson was born of English parents, probably in 
London, and his home, so far as he had a home on 
land, was always in England. Like many men of 
his time, he was a sea rover, one of the brave, hardy 
navigators who were ready to sail at a moment's 
notice in any direction that suggested fresh adven- 
ture or discovery. 

no 



HENRY HUDSON 



The journal of this able sea captain shows that in 
the year 1607 there assembled in St. Ethelburga's 
Church, London, the men " who proposed to go to 
sea to discover a passage by the North Pole to Ja- 
pan and China." The list of eleven names that fol- 
lows in the journal begins 
with " Henry Hudson, mas- 
ter," and ends with that of 
his son, "John Hudson, a 
boy." 

On this voyage Hudson 
explored the coast of Green- 
land until his path was 
blocked by ice, and he sailed 
nearer to the North Pole 
than had any one before. 
The next year, 1608, he 
made another attempt to 
find a northwest passage by 
sailing between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla. 
Again he failed to find Asia, but the voyage was not 
without important results. It led to the establish- 
ment of English whale fisheries near the island of 
Spitzbergen, and to valuable corrections in the map 
of that bleak country. 

These two daring attempts of Hudson to discover 
a path to Asia through the icy northern waters were 
much talked of. His fame as an explorer reached 
the ears of the Dutch East India Company, a great 




Henry Hudson 

From a painting said to be from 

life. 



112 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

corporation in Holland which carried on trade with 
India and China. Holland was at that time one of 
the chief commercial nations of the world, and the 
city of Amsterdam was a center for European com- 
merce. 

The Dutch, therefore, were particularly in- 
terested in a shorter passage to the rich countries 
and islands of the East. " Since Hudson is one of 
the best seamen in Europe," reasoned the Dutch 
East India Company, "why should we not engage his 
services to find this long-looked-for gateway, and 
thus perhaps save our ships the tedious journey 
around Africa ? " 

No sooner were the arrangements between the 

Dutch Company and the English captain completed, 

than the kins: of France offered Hudson four hun- 

.* . 
dred crowns to make similar explorations for the 

French. But France was too late, and on April 4, 
1609, Henry Hudson set out from Amsterdam on 
his memorable voyage. He sailed in the Half Moon, 
a boat of about eighty tons' burden, with a crew of 
twenty English and Dutch sailors. He was pro- 
vided with maps and log books of previous explorers, 
and he carried also a letter that he considered most 
important. It was from Captain Smith, suggesting 
to Hudson that there was "a strait leading into the 
western ocean, by the north of the English colony 
in Virginia." Little indeed did these men know of 
the vast continent of America. Instead of a strait 



HENRY HUDSON 113 

leading to the Pacific Ocean there were three thou- 
sand miles of land. 

Since the hope of the Dutch Company was to 
find the northern route, the little //a// Moo /i at first 
held steadily to the northwest. Colder and colder 
blew the biting winds until finally the dreaded ice- 
bergs compelled the voyagers to turn south. 

But Hudson would not give up the search. Why 
should he not try that route north of the Virginia 
colony ? We learn from the record of his voyage 
that by the second of July he found himself off 
the Great Bank of Newfoundland, on the fourth of 
August he was at Cape Cod, and a fortnight later 
near the James River in Virginia. 

No doubt the explorer would have liked to stop 
at Jamestown and visit his friend Smith, but he did 
not dare yield to the temptation. He had already 
disobeyed his company's orders to " return to Am- 
sterdam if he failed to find the northern passage in 
the vicinity of Nova Zembla." 

So in the pleasant weather of late summer Hud- 
son turned back and pressed on under full sail until, 
on September 3, he reached the entrance to what 
is now New York Harbor. 

Imagine the joy with which the captain and his 
men found themselves one day ascending a broad 
salt stream. " This," cried they exultingly, " is at 
last the coveted opening to the great East." 

It was what the Indians called the " River of t;he 



114 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Mountains," and as the Half Moon proceeded slowly 
on her course, the friendly natives glided from the 
banks in their canoes and came close to the "great 
white bird." The savages thought the paleface 
brothers had been sent to them from heaven. It 
needed only a little urging to induce them to come on 




The " Half Moon " at the Highlands 
After the painting by Moran. 

board and exchange furs, skins, pumpkins, and 
grapes for beads, knives, and pieces of bright cloth. 
At a- point on the river near where the city of Hud- 
son now stands, the captain went ashore and visited 
an Indian camp. He found the Indians " very lov- 
ing," and to show their appreciation they prepared a 
feast, roasting pigeons and one of their hunting dogs. 
They became so interested in their new guest with 
the white face and scarlet clothes that they urged him 
to remain over night. When Hudson refused, they 



HENRY HUDSON 115 

fancied it was because he was afraid of them ; so 
they collected all their arrows and broke them before 
his eyes. 

The explorer, however, was eager to pursue his 
journey, and bidding his red friends good-by, he 
went on board ship and ordered all sail spread. 
Soon the Half M0071 was gliding northward between 
the banks that Hudson described as " pleasant with 
grass and flowers and goodly trees, — as beautiful 
a land as one can tread upon." 

Again he was doomed to defeat. He had noticed 
that, as his vessel proceeded, the water became more 
shallow, and he found to his dismay that it was fresh 
instead of salt. Before Albany w^as reached the 
Half Moon was obliged to anchor for fear of run- 
ning aground. A smaller boat was used to explore 
the stream, and after a month of vain effort, Hudson 
and his men turned their faces toward the Old 
World. 

The spring of 1610 marked the departure of Hud- 
son, this time under the English flag, on what 
proved to be his last effort to find the northwest 
passage. In due time he reached North America, 
and entered the great land-locked bay that now 
bears his name. Carefully he sailed along its coast, 
mile after mile, until he found that he had come 
back to his starting point, and that there was no 
other outlet. 

In these ice-bound regions he and his men spent 



ii6 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

the long Arctic winter, suffering frightfully from 
cold and lack of food. But Hudson had a spirit 
that failure could not conquer, and warmer weather 
found him still hopeful and determined to push his 
explorations. The crew, however, tired of cold. 




Trading with the Indians 

hardship and hunger, became mutinous, and refused 
to sail in any direction but toward England. The 
captain pleaded with them, but they would not re- 
lent. They bound their master hand and foot and 
put him in a small boat with his young son and five 
or six starving sailors. They then cut these unfor- 
tunate men adrift and headed their ship for home. 

Nothing more was heard of the brave Henry 
Hudson, and the wild waters of Hudson Bay are 



HENRY HUDSON 



117 



his grave and monument. Hudson died without 
dreaming of the future importance of his discovery 
of the Hudson River ; nor did he realize that new- 
colonies in America would result from his report 
to the Dutch East India Company. 

The valuable furs that the explorer had brought 
back with him tempted Hollanders to make voy- 
ages to the Hudson River, and gradually there was 
built up a profitable trade with the Indians, "in 
this country full of great and tall oaks, peopled with 
strange-looking red men." Many trading posts 
were established, the most important being Fort 
Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, Fort Orange, 
— the present site of Albany, — and Fort Nassau, 
near where Philadelphia now stands. 

Long years after Hudson's death the Dutch 
settlers on the green banks of the Hudson River 
kept the discoverer's name alive in story and 
legend. When peals of thunder rolled over the 
Highlands or Catskills, they would say: " Hendrik 
Hudson and his crew of the Half Moon are playing 
ninepins among the hills." They liked to think of 
Henry Hudson as a Dutchman, and to picture him 
smoking a long pipe, from which such whiffs of 
smoke arose that, when the Half Moon first entered 
New York Harbor, the smoke was like a dense fog 
around the ship, and prevented the sailors from see- 
ing land ! Seated around the hearth at twilight, 
before the crackling logs, the Dutch parents would 



ii8 FIR^T COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

tell their children the mythical tales of the Hudson 
valley, of the hobgoblins in the Highlands, or of the 
haunted glens of Sleepy Hollow. 

Things to Remember 

Henry Hudson was an English explorer employed by the Dutch 
East India Company to try to find -a short 
route to Asia. 

While searching for this route in 1609 he 
discovered the river that we now call the 
Hudson. 

The discovery of the Hudson River led 
to a profitable fur trade between Holland 
and the Indians, and to the 



establishment of Dutch trad- 
ing posts in America. 

The great bay north of 
Canada, which Hudson ex- 
plored, was named in his 
honor. 

Map Work. — Locate Hol- 
land, Norway, North Cape, 
Hudson River, Fort Orange 
(Albany) , Hudson Bay. Trace 
the two routes known at this 
time by which the Dutch could 
sail from Holland to the East Indies. 




Map showing Early Dutch and 

Swedish Settlements 



I 



XI. PETER STUYVESANT 

Born 1602 — Died 1682 

Behind the scared squaw's birch canoe 

The steamer smokes and raves ; 
And city lots are staked for sale 

Above old Indian graves. 

— Whittier's " On Receiving an Eagle's Quill." 

Soon after Hudson's voyages Holland took pos- 
session of the lands along the Hudson River and as 
far south as Delaware Bay. This region the Dutch 
called New Netherland. In 1625 Peter Minuit came 
over as governor. He at once bought from the In- 
dians for about twenty-four dollars the island of 
Manhattan. The little town on it he called New 
Amsterdam, and it later became New York. The 
governors who followed Minuit got into trouble 
with the Indians, and also with the English, who 
claimed all of Connecticut. 

The conditions in New Netherland were far from 
satisfactory when a new governor, Peter Stuyvesant, 
arrived in 1647. The colonists soon found that he 
was an honest man with courage, sound judgment, 
and a firm will. It did not take him long to make a 
new treaty of peace w^ith the Indians and to quiet 
the dispute with the English as to their possessions. 

There were difficulties also to be overcome in 

119 



I20 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 




Delaware. The Swedes, who had settled near Wil- 
mington under Minuit, claimed that country, and 
opposed the building of a Dutch fort at Newcastle. 

Three years later they forced 
the Dutch to surrender the 
fort. 

The next year, 1656, saw 
Governor Stuyvesant with 
seven Dutch vessels and as 
inany hundred men sailing 
up the Delaware River. He 
recaptured the fort, took 
possession of the entire 
colony of New Sweden, 

Peter Stuyvesant and Sailed triumphantly 

After the portrait in the possession back tO NcW Amsterdam, 
of the New York Historical tt i Oj. i. 

g^^jg^ Under Stuyvesant com- 

merce began to increase. 
He obtained for the colony the privilege of trading 
with Brazil and foreign ports and, what was less 
fortunate in the end, the right to bring slaves from 
Africa. While the fur trade laid the foundation 
for the wealth of New Amsterdam, shipbuilding 
from the first played an important part. Before 
Governor Stuyvesant's time, the Manhattan ship- 
yard had built the New Netherlands one of the 
largest vessels then afloat. 

Stuyvesant enforced a strict observance of the 
Sabbath, forbade the sale of firearms and liquor to 



PETER STUYVESANT 



121 



the Indians, founded a public school, and encouraged 
the colonists to erect better buildings. Their first 
houses were much like those of the English colo- 
nists, log cabins 6i one or two rooms, with thatched 
roofs. The dwellings afterward erected for perma- 
nent use were of wood, 
with a gable end 
made of yellow bricks 
brought from Hol- 
land. Usually a 
weathercock was 
placed on the roof, 
and the year in which 
the house was built 
might be found in iron 
letters over the door. 
The large open fire- 
places were decorated 

with colored tiles, and the floors were covered 
with white sand. 

The clothing and household linen were spun by 
the women of the family, who were noted for indus- 
try and good housekeeping. These Dutch women 
were very picturesque. Their hair was brushed 
smoothly back under large white caps, and they 
wore gay-colored skirts and bright stockings which 
they knitted themselves. The men wore knee 
breeches with silver buckles and wide-skirted coats 
ornamented with buttons of silver or brass. 




Early Dutch Costumes 



122 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Though the affairs of New Netherland ran 
smoothly for a time, there were ever increasing 
anxieties for Governor Stuyvesant. The EngUsh 
colonists continued to come to America in such 
large numbers that they needed more land, and the 
question of boundary lines came up again. There 
were also serious difficulties with the patroons, who 
were growing so rich and independent that they paid 
little attention to the governor, or to the Dutch West 
India Company. One patroon, Killian Van Rens- 
selaer, owned the greater part of what are now three 
counties near Albany, a tract of land larger than 
the state of Rhode Island. 

Nor was Governor Stuyvesant personally popular 
with the colonists. Although a council of nine men 
had been elected to assist him in the government of 
New Netherland, he was headstrong and inclined 
to decide all matters for himself. This led to his 
being nicknamed " Hardheaded Peter." When his 
people wished to be very disrespectful, they called 
him " Old Silverleg " ; for a w^ooden leg ornamented 
with bands of silver replaced a limb that Stuyve- 
sant had lost while serving his country in the W^est 
Indies. 

On one occasion when the colonists asked for 
reform, the governor refused to listen to them. 
" We derive our authority," said he, haughtily, 
"from God and the West India Company, and not 
from a few ignorant subjects." Hence it is easy 



I 



PETER STUYVESANT 



123 



to understand why the people of New Netherland 
felt little affection for Peter Stuyvesant, though they 
were willing to admit that he had many worthy 
traits. The day was close at hand when they must 
choose between him and the rule of a foreign power. 
We know that the English had claimed America 




The Stadthuys, New York, 1679 
After Brevoort's drawing. ("Stadthuys" is Dutch for "statehouse.") 

since the days of John Cabot's discoveries. In the 
year 1664 King Charles II gave to his brother 
James, Duke of York, a large tract of land in Amer- 
ica, including New Netherland. Toward the close ' 
of the summer the Dutch in New Amsterdam were 
astonished at the sight of a fleet of British war-ships 
sailing into the harbor. They were even more star- 
tled when Colonel Nichols, the commander, sent a 
letter to Governor Stuy:^esant demanding the sur- 



124 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

render of New Amsterdam to the English. " If you 
do not haul down the Dutch flag," said he, " I will 
fire upon the fort." 

As England and Holland were at peace, Stuyve- 
sant regarded this as an outrage. He indignantly 
tore the letter in shreds and hastily ordered his 
troops to prepare for attack, though he knew that 
there were five or six armed Englishmen for every 
soldier he could muster. But alas for brave Gov- 
ernor Stuyvesant. His people had grown tired of 
him and of the whole system of government under 
the Dutch West India Company. " We are willing 
to try English rule," said they, " and thus save the 
shedding of innocent blood." 

In vain did Stuyvesant declare that he would 
rather die than surrender ; the colonists would not 
fight, so he was compelled to yield. A treaty was 
signed at his " Bouwerie," or country house, near 
the present Bowery and Tenth Street, on Septem- 
ber 3, 1664, proclaiming Nichols governor, and 
renaming the town New York, in honor of the 
Duke of York. 

With a heavy heart Governor Stuyvesant returned 
to Holland to report what had happened. He did 
not think that he would ever care to see the weak- 
spirited New Netherlanders again. But he found 
that he had grown to love the island of Manhat- 
tan, and after a time he returned to the stately man- 
sion on his Bowery farm. Here he lived until his 



PETER STUVVESANT 



125 



death, and the tombstone of this last of the Dutch 
governors is set in the outer wall of St. Mark's 
church. 




Peter Stuyvesant tearing up the English Letter 

Under English rule the people of New York were 
allowed to have a voice in their government, and 
later they obtained a charter much like the charters 
of the New England colonists. 



126 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Though EngHsh people came in large numbers 
to New York, Holland traits long survived, and for 
many'years Dutch continued to be the common lan- 
guage. It was used in the schools, while English 
was taught merely as an accomplishment. 

The children of America have to thank the Dutch 
for Santa Claus, for they brought from Holland the 
jolly custom of celebrating in honor of the good St. 
Nicholas at Christmas time. Crullers and cookies 
also were first introduced into this country by the 
Hollanders. 

The early Dutch settlers in America did not work 
so hard as their English neighbors. The Dutch 
believed that " all work and no play makes Jack a 
dull boy," and they were fond of indulging in games, 
such as quoits, or of sitting on their "stoops," or 
porches, and smoking long-stemmed pipes, after 
their day's work was ended. 

Since Holland had long been a refuge for the 
persecuted of all lands, it is said that when the 
English took possession of New Amsterdam they 
found eighteen different nations represented. From 
its very foundation, therefore. New York has been, 
what it is to-day, a cosmopolitan city. 

The surrender of the Hollanders to the English 
was a great relief to the colonists in New England 
and Virginia, who had been separated by the Dutch 
possessions. The Duke of York gave to two friends, 
one of whom was Sir George Carteret, that part of 



PETER STUYVESANT 



127 



New Netherland which lay between the Hudson and 
Delaware rivers. As Carteret was governor of the 
island of Jersey in the English Channel, this part 
of New Netherland was called New Jersey. 

Although Dutch rule in America was of short 
duration, what the Dutch accomplished was of great 
importance in the development of the new country. 




■■^91 



m^^i; -<%^ ' 



>',J'f' 




A BOUWERIE 

"Bouwerie" is from the Dutch word meaning " farm." 

A valuable fur trade with Europe had been estab- 
lished, thousands of acres of fertile land had been 
cleared for farming, and the friendship of a power- 
ful tribe of natives, the League of the Iroquois, had 
been won. We are soon to learn about the French 
people who came to this country, and how the good 
will of the Iroquois Indians helped to prevent the 
French from driving the Dutch and English out of 
America. 



128 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Things to Remember 

Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New Netherland, 
served from 1647 to 1664. 

During his administration the Dutch took possession of the 
Swedish colony in Delaware. 

The Enghsh sent a British fleet to New Amsterdam in 1664 to 
demand its surrender, for they claimed the land because of John 
Cabot's discoveries. 

The Dutch surrendered to the English without a struggle on 
September 3, 1664, and New Amsterdam was renamed New York 
in honor of James, Duke of York. 

The Dutch had won the lasting friendship of the Iroquois, the 
most important Indian power in America. 

This Indian support helped the Dutch and their English suc- 
cessors to prevent the French from obtaining control of America. 




Prow or a Dutch Vessel of the Seventeenth Century 
Showing the figurehead of St. Nicholas. 



XII. SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN AND 
OTHER FRENCH DISCOVERERS 

Champlain : Born 1567 — Died 1635 

Once more on the deck I stand 

Of my own swift gliding craft. 
Set sail ! Farewell to the land ! 

The gale follows fair abaft. 
We shoot through the sparkling foam, 

Like an ocean bird set free ; — 
Like the ocean bird, our home 

We'll find far out on the sea ! 

— Sargent's " A Life on the Ocean Wave." 

We have been following the fortunes of the Span- 
ish, English, and Dutch in the New World. If we 
turn our attention to France, we find that she 
had not been idle while other nations were sending 
men and ships across the Atlantic to make discov- 
eries and to found new colonies. The French mon- 
archs were quite as eager as those of other nations 
to increase their wealth and power. 

Spain and Portugal, because of discoveries of 
Columbus and others, claimed the entire new terri- 
tory. To prevent quarrels, the Pope, in 1494, 
divided as he thought best the " lands discovered 
or to be discovered." He drew an imaginary line 
three hundred and seventy leagues (about 9ne 
thousand miles) west of the Cape Verde Islands ; all 

129 



I30 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

lands west of this line were to belong to Spain, all 
east of it to Portugal. Measured by this line, Brazil 
was the only part of the New World that Portugal 
could claim. All the rest belonged to Spain. But 
of course at that time no one knew the size, shape, 
or extent of the undiscovered country. 

The governments of England and Holland paid 
no attention to the claims of Spain and Portugal, or 
to the division of land by the Pope. The French 
king, Francis I, treated the Spanish and Portuguese 
claims just as lightly. " I should like you to show 
me," said he to the kings of these two countries, 
"that part of Father Adam's will which divides 
America ^between you and leaves out the French." 
And he began to take steps whereby France might 
get her share. 

At about the time that Cortez and Pizarro were 
conquering the Indians of Mexico and Peru, and 
stealing their treasures, France sent a vessel to our 
shores. It was under the command of Verraza^no, 
an Italian. 

Verrazano skirted the American coast in 1524, in 
the vicinity of what is now North Carolina. He then 
cruised along the Atlantic seaboard to Newfound- 
land, and was probably the only white man before 
Henry Hudson to sail into New York Bay. Soon 
after Verrazano's return, France became engaged 
in \var with Spain, and for the time lost all interest 
in the new country. 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



131 



Ten years passed before the French government 
sent out another exploring expedition. In 1534, and 
again in 1535, under the command of the jovial, light- 
hearted Jacques Cartier, French vessels crossed the 
Atlantic. Reaching Newfoundland, Cartier sailed 
westward across a gulf to which he gave the name 




I T r D 



SCALE OF MILES. 

q , , ^ 100 290 300 400 



MAP SHOWING JACQUES CARTIER'S VOYAGES. 
Thus: ist Voyage , 2nd. Voyage ^._ ,3rd Voyage -i-»-*-+ 

St. Lawrence, because the day happened to be the 
feast-day of that saint. 

Later he passed up the St. Lawrence River, where 
the French found a beautiful, fertile country, in- 
habited by friendly Indians. At Gaspe, Cartier 
planted a cross thirty feet high with the inscription, 
Vive le Rot de France, — Long live the King of 
France. The Indians were alarmed at this unusual 



132 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

sight, but Cartier explained that it was merely " set 
up to be as a light and leader " to guide his ship into 
port when he should come again. 

Cartier felt well repaid for his voyages. He had 
taken possession of the country for the French, and 
he thought the St. Lawrence might prove to be the 
pathway to China. He learned from the natives 
that there was a large Indian town called Hochelaga 
on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and he resolved to 
see it. The savages, however, distrusted these 
strange white men, and did not approve of their plan. 

So three Indians disguised themselves as devils, 
and tried to frighten the Frenchmen by appearing 
before them with blackened faces and long horns. 
Cartier only laughed at this ridiculous sight, and 
spreading his sails proceeded to Hochelaga. He 
found the town beautifully situated on a high hill on 
an island in the St. Lawrence River, and Cartier 
gave it the name of Montreal, or Mount Royal. 

The Indians at Hochelaga were delighted with 
the visit of the white men, who distributed knives, 
rings, and metal trinkets to the wondering natives. 
Perhaps these strange palefaces might be able to 
cure the sick ! The chief of the tribe, a helpless old 
man, was accordingly carried on a mat before Cartier 
to be healed. The Frenchman was touched by this 
simple faith, and gladly did all he was able to do. 
He laid his hands upon the old warrior and offered 
up a prayer for his recovery. 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



^33 



Cartler at length sailed back to France. Owing 
to religious wars it was nearly thirty years before 




Cartier taking Possession of the Country 

that country did anything further in the way of dis- 
covery or exploration in America. In the meantime 
there was much suffering at home. The Huguenots, 



134 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

as the French Protestants were called, were being 
cruelly persecuted for daring to hold religious views 
which differed from those of their king. 

Accordingly Coligny, the celebrated leader of 
the Huguenots, decided to send enough Protestants 
to America to found a colony. The expedition was 
in charge of Jean Ribault and sailed from France 
in 1562, a few years before Sir Francis Drake left 
England on his first voyage to America. 

The Huguenots landed on the coast of South 
Carolina, and began to build cabins and found a 
settlement, while Ribault went back to France for 
more colonists. But, alas, Ribault did not return, 
and the starving settlers in despair decided to 
build a ship in which to sail for home. With such 
crude tools as they possessed, they constructed a 
strange little craft, using for sails sheets and pieces 
of clothing. In this frail structure they pluckily 
put out to sea, and after barely escaping shipwreck 
were picked up by an English vessel. 

Ribault's delay was caused by war at home, and 
it was two years before Coligny could send out 
another colony. This time the Frenchmen landed 
on St. John's River in Florida. Later they were 
joined by other Huguenots, and the happy colonists 
thought that at last they had found peace. The 
king of Spain, however, heard of the little Prot- 
estant settlement, and determined to destroy it. 
He did not mean to allow any French or English 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



135 



to settle In this country, so he ordered a ship load 
of soldiers to attack the French colony. Men, 
women, and children, about seven hundred in all, 
were mercilessly killed. 

It was not until Samuel de Champlain followed 
Cartiers footsteps to Canada that a permanent 
French settlement was 
made in America. Cham- 
plain was the son of a 
ship captain, and had 
been carefully educated 
as a navigator. He has 
been called "one of the 
most remarkable French- 
men of his time, — a beau- 
tiful character, devout 
and high-minded, brave 

and tender." He had Samuel de Champlain 

served in the French navy, and was a favorite of 
his monarch, Henry IV. 

Champlain's daring and roving disposition led 
him to visit the Spanish settlements In the West 
Indies. He explored a part of Mexico, and, return- 
ing by way of Panama, was the first man to suggest 
building a ship canal across that Isthmus. He care- 
fully explored our northeastern coast and gave to 
many places the names they still bear. In 1603 he 
explored both banks of the St. Lawrence River, and 
pressed eagerly forward to find the Indian town of 




136 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Hochelaga described by Cartier. But Hochelaga 
was now a ruin, the little cabins destroyed, the 
corn-fields waste ground. The explorers soon re- 
turned to France. 

In 1604 Champlain again set sail with a number 
of colonists for Acadia, as the whole Canadian region 
was then called. He cruised along the coast of Nova 
Scotia and landed at a place which he named Port 
Royal. Sailing around the Bay of Fundy, the ex- 
plorers entered the mouth of a river which they 
called St. John's, and finally settled on the island 
of St. Croix. 

Trees were cut down to build houses and bar- 
racks, and these were surrounded with a palisade 
for defense. The pleasant autumn was followed by 
a long, hard winter, when food, fuel, and fresh water 
were difBcult to obtain "on the island. Scurvy broke 
out, and by spring only forty-four of the seventy-nine 
colonists were left alive. Had it not been for Cham- 
plain's courage and energy, this first little French 
settlement in Canada would not have survived. 
Soon another ship, with more settlers, came from 
France, and the colony was moved to Port Royal, 
where it was permanently established. 

In 1608, the year after the first English colonists 
came to Virginia, Champlain laid the foundation of 
Quebec, the first trading post on the St. Lawrence. 
A few small houses were built around an open 
square, and outside of these a wooden wall and ditch. 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



137 



In the center of the square Champlain set up a pole 
with a dovecote on the top, to show the Indians 
that his intentions were peaceful. Gardens and 
small farms were laid out, the Indians were encour- 
aged to bring their furs, and soon the French settle- 
ment of Quebec began to grow. 

After a w^hile Champlain brought his young wife, 
a beautiful, devout woman, to the cold little settle- 
ment in Aca- 
dia. Her name 
still lives in 
one of the 
islands of the 
St. Lawrence, 
Helen's Island. 
She gave her- 
the 
cou- 
th e 
Indian women 



self to 
work of 
verting 




Champlain's Picture of Quebec in 1613 



and children, and for five years labored among 
them with unselfish devotion. " France," says the 
historian Parkman, "aimed to subdue the natives 
not by the sword but by the cross. She invaded 
but to convert, to civilize, and embrace them among 
her children." 

When Champlain first came to Canada he found 
two powerful bands of Indians, the Hurons and the 
Algonquins, .joined in war against the fierce Iroquois. 



138 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

The Hurons were deeply impressed by the guns 
and armor of the Frenchmen. They begged 
Champlain, whom they called " the man with the 
iron breast," to help them in their struggle with the 
enemy. 

The explorer thought that it would be to his ad- 
vantage to make friends with these Indians, so he 
promised to give them his support, and to join in an 
attack which they had planned. On his way to 
meet the Iroquois, Champlain came out on the beau- 
tiful lake that separates northern Vermont and New 
York. To this sheet of water the Frenchman gave 
his name, and later he discovered Lakes Huron and 
Ontario. 

The warring tribes came together near the site of 
Ticonderoga, at the head of Lake Champlain, in 
1609. The Iroquois expected to meet only men of 
their own color, who would fight with the bow and 
arrow and tomahawk. Imagine their astonishment 
at the sight of the palefaces, and the noise of the 
Frenchmen's muskets ! Champlain himself killed 
two Indian chiefs and mortally wounded another, 
and it was not long before the Iroquois fled in terror, 
while the joyful war whoops of the Hurons and 
Algonquins rang through the forest. 

Dearly in after years did the Frenchmen pay for 
this victory, for it brought them the lasting hatred 
of the Iroquois Indians. These Indians played a 
very important part in our history, as we shall learn 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



139 



a little later. They were known as " The Five 
Nations" because they were divided into five tribes: 
the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the 
Cayugas, and the Senecas. They lived in New York 
state and were on very friendly terms with the Eng- 



^^ 



M 

ii 




The Defeat of the Iroquois at Lake Champlain 
After the drawing by Champlain, in his "Voyages." 

lish and Dutch, with whom they formed an alliance 
against the French. It was through their aid in 
after years that the English were able to prevent 
the French from getting control of New York. 

Champlain was governor of Canada until his 
death. He built fortifications on Richelieu Island, 
founded the town known as Three Rivers, and es- 
tablished a college for Indians at Quebec, where 
they were taught the French language. As fur 



I40 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

trading was the principal attraction which drew the 
Dutch to New York, so it was for a long time the 
chief interest of the French in Canada. Twenty-two 
thousand beaver skins were sent in one year from 
the St. Lawrence to France. The French had also 
large fisheries at Newfoundland. 

When Champlain had reached his sixty-eighth 
year, he saw in the tiny, but thriving, village of 
Quebec the fruits of his hard labor. The long 
struggle to establish a colony in Canada had been 
successful. He died on Christmas Day, 1635, in 
the community that he had founded, and his brilliant 
record still lives. Well had he earned his title, 
" Father of Canada." 

We have now seen that, in the early part of the 

seventeenth century, the nations of Europe were 

beginning to covet the American continent. Some 

one has said : " Here lay the shaggy continent from 

Florida to the Pole, stretched in savage slumber 

along the sea. On the bank of the James River 

was a nest of woe-begone Englishmen, a handful of 

fur traders at the mouth of the Hudson, and a few 

shivering Frenchmen among the snowdrifts of 

Acadia." 

Things to Remember 

Jacques Cartier, a Frenchman, in 1534 discovered and named 
the Gulf of St, Lawrence. 

In 1564 the French planted a colony on the St. John's River 
in Plorida, but it was destroyed by the Spaniards. 

A Frenchman, Samuel de Champlain, was the founder of Canada. 
He first visited it in 1603. 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



141 



The first permanent French settlement in America was made 
at Port Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1607. 

Quebec was founded in 1608 by Champiain. 

Champlain discovered Lakes Champiain, Ontario, and Huron. 

Champiain helped the Huron and Algonquin Indians to defeat 
the Iroquois at Ticonderoga in 1609. 

The Iroquois never forgave the French, and always afterward 
helped the Dutch and English in their conflicts with the French 
in America. 

The French in Canada carried on an extensive fur trade with 
the Indians, and established trading posts which afterward became 
permanent colonies. 

Map Work. — Locate Quebec, the Richelieu River, Lake 
Champiain. 




Joliet's Map of North America 



XIII. ROBERT DE LA SALLE 

Born 1643 — Died 1687 

We that had loved him so, followed him, honored him, 

Lived in his mild and magnificent eye, 
Learned his great language, caught his clear accent, 

Made him our pattern to live and to die. 

— Browning's " The Lost Leader." 

In 1 64 1 three ships sailed across the Atlantic from 
France and anchored in the St. Lawrence River. 
They had brought men to establish a settlement at 
Montreal, at the foot of the stately hill Cartier had 
discovered. Montreal was destined to grow into a 
beautiful city, and to hold an important place in 
Canadian commerce, but for years it was only a small 
community, struggling for existence. 

The people in Quebec and Montreal were devout 
Catholics, and with the exception of fur trading, 
their chief thought seemed to be to convert the 
Indians to the Catholic faith. Jesuit priests came 
over from France to teach the Indians. These 
missionaries endured great hardships in their wan- 
derings from tribe to tribe. They suffered from 
cold, hunger, and exposure, but they never lost cour- 
age or cheerfulness. They pushed farther and 
farther west, and established many missions in the 
wilderness. 

142 



ROBERT DE LA SALLE 



143 



The Iroquois were a source of constant trouble to 
the French. One of the Jesuit missionaries, Father 
Jogues, was captured by the savages and cruelly tor- 
tured. The Indians took the priest with them on 
ope of their visits to the fur- 
trading station at Fort Orange, 
and the Dutch governor helped 
Jogues to escape and return to 
France. The priest thrilled his 
countrymen with the tales of his 
torture ; but with true heroism 
he returned to Canada and to 
his work. He was finally cap- 
tured again by the Indians and 
put to death for a sorcerer. 

By the year 1670 the French 
had explored as far west as 
Wisconsin. Three years later 
a fur trader named Joliet, and 
a priest, Father Marquette, set 
out with five companions from a mission on the Strait 
of Mackinac to find a great river that the Indians 
called the Father of Waters. The Frenchmen hoped 
that it might lead to China. They went in canoes 
across Lake Michigan to Green Bay; then they 
followed the Fox River until they reached the Wis- 
consin, and gliding down this stream they came out 
on the broad Mississippi. "This," said Father 
Marquette, "is such joy as we cannot express." 




A Jesuit Father 



144 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



The Frenchmen floated with the current down the 
Mississippi past the mouths of the Illinois, Missouri, 
and Ohio rivers. They made 
frequent landings and met many 
Indians, who, as a rule, were 
friendly and treated the travelers 
well. 

• At the mouth of the Arkansas 
River the explorers turned back, 
having made up their minds 
that the Father of Waters did 
not lead to the Pacific Ocean. 
Without knowing it, they had 
passed the spot where De Soto, 
the first explorer of the Miss- 
issippi, had found his grave more 
than a century before. 

Joliet and Marquette reached 
Green Bay in safety. In four 
months they had covered in 
canoes more than two thousand 
miles. For the next six years, 
however, nothing of importance resulted from this 
remarkable journey, and no steps were taken toward 
claiming this rich western country for France. 

It was Robert de La Salle, " one of the bravest and 
most sagacious explorers that ever lived," who ex- 
plored the Mississippi River to its mouth and there 
planted the banner of France. 




James Marquette 
From the statue by G. 
Trentenove, in the Capi- 
tol at Washington. 



ROBERT DE LA SALLE 



145 




Robert de La Salle 



In the year 1666 La Salle 
came from France to seek 
his fortune in America. He 
was the son of an old and 
rich family and had been 
carefully educated and sur- 
rounded with luxury. He 
settled at Montreal and 
began to study the Indian 
language. Soon he started 
out to find a pathway to 
China. Slowly making his 
way toward the southwest, he explored Lake On- 
tario, discovered the Ohio River, and sailed down its 

waters as far as Louis- 
ville. Later he trav- 
eled northward as far 
as Lake Michigan and 
crossed to Illinois. 

After a time La 
Salle returned to 
France and obtained 
permission from King 
Louis XIV to push ex- 
plorations in America, 
to colonize the lands 
he might discover, and 
to open trade with the 
Indians. The young 




Louis Joliet 

After the bronze relief tablet by E. Kemys 
in the Marquette Building, Chicago. 



146 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

explorer had little difficulty in interesting his friends 
and relatives in his proposed ventures in New 
France, as the French possessions in America were 
called. He raised a considerable sum of money for 
the enterprise, and returned to Montreal accompanied 
by a young friend, Henri de Tonty. 

By this time La Salle had entirely given up hope 
of finding a sea route to China through the conti- 
nent of America. Henceforth he devoted all his 
efforts to opening up the interior of the country. 
His bold idea was to build a chain of forts from 
Niagara to the mouth of the Mississippi River. These 
were to grow into settlements of French and Indi- 
ans, who would carry on a trade in furs, timber, and 
other products of the new country. Thus would a 
province many times the size of France be added to 
the French possessions. Truly this was a great 
plan. 

It was not long before Count Frontenac was ap- 
pointed governor of Canada. He was a warm 
friend of La Salle, and the explorer obtained from 
him a grant of land which included Fort Frontenac, 
now Kingston, on Lake Ontario. 

Four years later, in 1677, La Salle began his 
famous exploration of the Mississippi Valley. He 
and his companions proceeded as far as Niagara, 
where they stopped for the winter and built a small 
vessel. On her prow was carved a great monster, 
a griffin, taken from Count Frontenac's coat-of-arms, 



ROBERT DE LA SALLE 



47 



and the vessel was called the Griffin. It was the 
first ship ever launched on the Great Lakes. 

In the summer the explorers sailed through Lakes 




Landing of La Salle's Expedition at Montreal 
From an engraving in Hennepin's " Voyages." 

Erie, Huron, and Michigan. The simple Indians 
along the banks of these inland waters were speech- 
less with astonishment when they beheld this ship 
with its white sails. Never before had they seen 
a boat larger than a canoe. 



148 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

From Lake Michigan, La Salle sent the Griffin, 
loaded with furs, back to Niagara, an^ instructed 
his men to return with a supply of provisions. 
With the remainder of his company the explorer 
worked his way through the forests to the Illinois 
River. Not far from the present town of Peoria, 
the men built a fort, and because of their hardships 
and suffering, they called it Crevecoeur, meaning 
Heartbreak. The Griffin did not return, and it 
was never known whether she had been wrecked, 
or was deserted by the crew in order that they 
might barter the furs for their own profit. 

The loss of the Griffin was indeed a severe blow, 
but La SaMe was a man of determination, and he 
began to plan a way out of the difficulty. Intrust- 
ing the little band of men to the care of Tonty, the 
explorer set out on foot in 1680 for Fort Frontenac. 

In spite of cold and snow, the thick tangle of the 
forest, and insufficient food, he pushed bravely for- 
ward, with an Indian hunter and four Frenchmen as 
companions. Often they tramped for miles through 
blinding storms, their clothing frozen stiff; at other 
times, in crossing marshes, they would wade waist- 
deep through mud and water. La Salle was obliged 
to leave his worn-out companions on the way, and 
was nearly exhausted when a familiar sight greeted 
his eyes; before him loomed the gray walls of 
Fort Frontenac. He had walked a distance of one 
thousand miles. 



ROBERT DE LA SALLE 



149 



But continued misfortune pursued this brave man. 
For a long time many had been jealous of him, and 
he found bitter enemies on all sides who tried in 
every way to crush him. Once he was poisoned 
and barely escaped death. He now found that his 
agents had plundered him, and that creditors had 




Building the " Griffin " 
From an engraving in Hennepin's " Nouvelle Decouverte." 

seized his property. Before he could start back 
with provisions and men for the relief of Tonty and 
his party. La Salle heard further disastrous news. 
From two exploring traders he learned that soon 
after his departure from the Illinois, nearly all the 
men had deserted Tonty and destroyed the fort. 
These mutineers, it was said, were now on the coast 
of Lake Ontario watching for La Salle in order to 
kill him. La Salle immediately chose nine trusted 



I50 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

men, and hastened to meet the deserters. Soon 
his canoes overtook those of the faithless French- 
men, who were captured and punished. 

La Salle's chief thought was now of Tonty. Was 
he alive .f^ And had the handful of men who re- 
mained true been able to survive the dangers of the 
wilderness? On the loth of August, 1680, La 
Salle once more set out for the Illinois, taking with 
him twenty-five men. The long journey was made 
in safety, but, alas, the camp was in ruins, and the 
explorer found that the Iroquois Indians had swept 
over the Illinois country, spreading terror and de- 
struction in their path. 

In every direction, far and near, did La Salle 
search for some clew to the missing men, but none 
could he find. He made friends with the Miami In- 
dians and other neighboring tribes, and then started 
once more for Montreal. He was still determined 
to raise enough men and supplies to carry out his 
plan for establishing settlements. Imagine his joy 
when, on reaching Mackinac on Lake Michigan, 
he found his lost comrade! Tonty had escaped 
from the Indians, and was making a brave struggle 
to reach Fort Frontenac. 

The two friends traveled together to Niagara, 
where discouraging news again greeted La Salle. 
A ship from France, carrying several thousand dol- 
lars for his use, had been wTecked and the money 
lost. No amount of ill luck, however, could turn 



ROBERT DE LA SALLE 



151 



this heroic man from the course he had determined 
upon, and it is not long until we find him starting 




Map of Country explored by La Salle 

on another expedition. Accompanied by Tonty 
and a party of French and Indians, he proceeded 
by way of Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan, 



152 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

thence through the Chicago and IlUnois rivers to 
the Mississippi. 

As the canoes sped over this broad river, the 
Frenchmen viewed with dehght the level prairie 
lands and miles of forest. Herds of buffalo and 
deer came down to drink at the water's edge, 
and only the cries of birds and wild animals broke 
the stillness. t 

On the 9th of April, 1682, they arrived at the 
mouth of the Father of Waters, and looked out 
over the great Gulf of Mexico, " tossing its restless 
billows, lonely, without a sail, without a sign of 
life." A short distance above the mouth of the 
river the party landed. With impressive ceremo- 
nies. La Salle planted the banner of France, and in 
the name of the king took possession of the whole 
valley of the Mississippi, naming the region Louisi- 
ana, or Louis's land. This included all the ter- 
ritory lying between the Alleghany and Rocky 
mountains. 

The next step was to establish a fortified post at 
the mouth of the river, to guard the Mississippi 
valley against the Spanish and English. As a 
beginning toward this and the colony he hoped 
soon to establish, La Salle directed the cutting 
away of the forest, and the building of cabins and 
a storehouse for furs. On the top of a cliff a pali- 
sade was erected, and the fort named St. Louis. 
" La Salle looked down from his rock on a scene 



ROBERT DE LA SALLE 



153 



of wild human life. Lodges of bark and rushes, or 
cabins of logs were clustered on the open plain or 
along the edges of the bordering forests. Squaws 
labored, warriors lounged in the sun, naked children 
whooped and gamboled on the grass. Beyond the 
river, the banks were studded with the lodges of the 
Illinois Indians." 




The Site of Fort St. Louis 
On the top of this rock on the Illinois River La Salle built his stronghold. 



When Fort St. Louis was finished La Salle made 
his way back to Montreal, and from there sailed to 
France to lay his plans before the king. Although he 
was as brave as a lion in the wilderness, the explorer 
had a shy, reserved nature. He preferred to lodge 
in a poor street, and to meet few people. He had 



154 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



many misgivings about asking the king for help to 
plant a colony in Louisiana, but his request had 
come at the right moment. For a long time the 
king had been angered because the Spaniards had 
forbidden French vessels to trade at Spanish ports 
in America, or to enter the Gulf of Mexico. French 
sailors who had dared to enter the gulf had been 
seized and imprisoned. Now war had been de- 
clared between France and Spain, and here was 
La Salle ready to help break the power of Spain 
in America. King Louis, therefore, willingly placed 
at La Salle's command a French squadron of four 
vessels. 

With a light heart La Salle set sail for the Gulf of 
Mexico. As we know, he had reached the mouth of 
the Mississippi by coming from the north, but he 
had never seen it from the gulf. He had not 
doubted, however, that he should be able to find it ; 
but all his efforts were vain. He passed the spot 
for which he was so anxiously looking, and landed on 
the coast of Texas, probably at Matagorda Bay, four 
hundred miles west of the mouth of the river. 

Truly this explorer has been well called " a man of 
iron," for he immediately set to work to build a fort and 
make his little band of colonists comfortable ; then 
he started out to find the lost river. Now followed 
two long years of bitter disappointment and disaster. 
One of the vessels, loaded with supplies, was wrecked 
through the treachery of the crew; the others sailed 



ROBERT DE LA SALLE 15 5 

back to France and left La Salle and his colonists 
alone. 

Week after week, month after month, he tried to 
find the Mississippi, that he might ascend it, reach 
Montreal, and procure help. In 1687, when near 
a branch of the Trinity River, some of his men, 
desperate from continued hardship, resolved to take 
his life. They hid themselves in the tall grass and 
waited for an opportunity to shoot their leader. 
Thus died the great La Salle in the land for which 
he had dared and suffered so much. 

A few of La Salle's companions succeeded in 
reaching Fort St. Louis on the Illinois, and bitterly 
did the noble Tonty grieve when he learned of the 
death of his friend. These Frenchmen at last found 
their way back to Montreal, but nothing was ever 
heard of the few colonists left at the fort in Texas. 

"Where La Salle had plowed, others were to sow 
the seed." His great plan was carried out, and set- 
tlements were established from the Great Lakes to 
the Gulf of Mexico. By 1689 the French were in 
possession of the broad valleys of the St. Lawrence 
and the Mississippi, and were watching for an oppor- 
tunity to seize the land in the Hudson valley. They 
feared that the English would reach the Great Lakes 
and become rivals in the rich fur trade of the northwest. 
But standing like watch dogs guarding New York state 
were the Five Nations, ready always to fight their 
old enemies and to help their friends, the English. 



156 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Things to Remember 

Montreal was founded by the French in 1641. 

The French possessions in America were called New France. 

Marquette and Joliet discovered the Mississippi River in 1673, 
and explored it as far as the Arkansas River. 

The first white man to explore the Mississippi River to its mouth 
was Robert de La Salle. 

In 1682 La Salle planted the banner of France at the mouth of 
the river, and claimed that whole section for the French. 

He named the country Louisiana, in honor of King Louis XIV. 
Louisiana then included all the land between the Alleghany and 
Rocky mountains, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. 

La Salle tried to build a chain of forts, or settlements, across 
America from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Map Work. — Trace on a map the journey of La Salle from 
Fort Frontenac (Kingston) to the Gulf of Mexico. 



XIV. LORD BALTIMORE 

George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore: Born about 1582 — Died 1632 
Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore : Born 1605 — Died 1675 

Spread, spread thy silver wings, O Dove ! 
And seek for rest by land and sea. 
And bring the tidings back to me, 
For thee and me and those I love. 

— Procter's "Rest." 

Before continuing the history of the French 
in America, let us see how much of the country 
England had settled by the year 1689. While the 
French were establishing themselves in Canada and 
the West, what colonies had the English planted in 
the East and South outside of Virginia, New Eng- 
land, New York, and New Jersey .f* 

There dwelt in London in the days of King 
James a wise and just Englishman named George 
Calvert. He had been educated at Oxford, had 
spent much time in travel, and held important offi- 
ces in the English government. King James 
thought so highly of him that he made him a peer 
of Ireland with the title. Lord Baltimore. 

For many years Calvert had been deeply inter- 
ested in the settlements in the New World. Roman 
Catholics were not well treated in England in those 
days, and as Lord Baltimore was a Catholic he re- 

157 



158 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

solved to establish in the New World a colony of 
his own, w^here those of his faith would be welcome. 

In 162 1 he obtained from the king a grant of 
land in Newfoundland. Lord Baltimore named it 
Avalon, and here he started a colony and built a 
fine house for himself. But he found the climate 
much colder than he had expected. There was fog 
winter and summer, and the soil was so poor that 
very little would grow. Furthermore, he was con- 
stantly in danger of being attacked by the French. 
He wrote to a friend in England: " I came to build 
and settle and sow, but am fallen to fighting with 
Frenchmen." 

Lord Baltimore had been at one time a member 
of the Virginia Company and had heard a great 
deal about the balmy winds and clear skies of Vir- 
ginia. He now resolved to visit these southern 
shores, and with a few friends he sailed across the 
Atlantic, landed at Jamestown, and later explored 
Chesapeake Bay. 

He had hoped for a hearty welcome from the 
Virginians, but in this he was disappointed. They 
knew that Lord Baltimore wished to. found a colony 
near their own, and they would not tolerate the 
idea. Their distinguished visitor, however, was so 
delighted with the beautiful scenery and agreeable 
climate that he did not allow the inhospitality of the 
Jamestown settlers to chill his enthusiasm. He 
sailed for home and procured from the new king, 



LORD BALTIMORE 



159 




Charles I, a grant including the land now contained 
in the states of Maryland and Delaware, which both 
the Dutch and the 
Swedes had hoped to 
occupy. 

The king asked in 
payment for these 
twelve thousand square 
miles of land one fifth 
of all the gold and silver 
that should be mined. 
He also required that 
two Indian arrows be ' ~ 

sent each spring to his ^ecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore 
palace at Windsor, as a After a portrait in the British Publk Record 

pledge of loyalty. ^^''• 

Before the charter was signed Lord Baltimore died, 
but the idea of a Catholic colony was not abandoned. 
Calvert's eldest son, Cecil, succeeded to the title, 
and becarne the second Lord Baltimore. He was 
as generous and noble as his father, and was eager 
to carry out his father's plan. Soon arrangements 
were completed, but, as business interests in Eng- 
land prevented Cecil Calvert from going to America 
himself, he appointed his brother governor of the 
new province, which in the charter had been called 
Mary's Land, in honor of the queen, Henrietta 
Maria. 

In the winter of 1634 two little vessels, the Ar^ 



i6o FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

and the Dove^ carrying between two and three hun- 
dred colonists, sailed from Cowes, and after a stormy 
voyage arrived in February at Point Comfort, Vir- 
ginia. They then sailed up Chesapeake Bay and 
the Potomac River and landed on a small island, 
where they raised a cross, and kneeling around it 
gave thanks for their safe journey. 

After making some explorations the colonists set- 
tled near the junction of the Potomac and St. Mary's 
rivers, where they purchased from the friendly Indi- 
ans a half-deserted village, which they paid for in 
cloth, hoes, and hatchets. The natives treated the 
newcomers as kindly as they had at first treated the 
Virginia colonists. They taught the white stran- 
gers how to hunt in the dense forest and to plant 
corn. The squaws taught the wives of the settlers 
how to make bread of corn meal. 

The Indians had called their village Yoacomico, 
but the English renamed it St. Mary's. Although 
the settlement was intended chiefiy for. Catholics, 
all Christian denominations were welcome. Many 
Quakers driven out of Virginia took refuge in 
Maryland. There were two priests in the colony 
who at once became interested in converting the 
Indians, and as the purchase of the Indian settle- 
ment had included its wigwams, one of these was 
used for a church. 

King Charles allowed Lord Baltimore great free- 
dom in the manas^ement of the colonv. All the laws 



LORD BALTIMORE 



i6i 



were made by him, or by the men whom he ap- 
pointed, and his son was to inherit his power. 

The Maryland colonists had been fortunate 
enough to arrive in the spring, and, as they pro- 
cured land which had already been cleared, they 
were at once able to plant cornfields and gardens. 




Calvert making a Treaty with 
THE Indians 



A Family of CoLo^■ISTS viewing 
the Ships 



After the paintings by C. Y. Turner in the Baltimore courthouse. 

In the autumn the Dove was loaded with corn and 
sent to Boston, where the cargo was traded for dried 
fish and other supplies. From Virginia the Mary- 
landers could get domestic cattle, as well as food, 
and the colony at St. Mary's, therefore, did not suf- 
fer the hardship that the Jamestown and Plymouth 
settlers had endured. It was prosperous from the 
very start. 

But there came a time when the happiness of 



i62 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Maryland was disturbed. Captain William Clai- 
borne of Virginia had obtained permission from the 
king to explore this southern country and to en- 
gage in fur trade with the natives. He had formed 
a settlement on Kent Island in Chesapeake Bay, in 
the very heart of Maryland. Lord Baltimore claimed 
that under his grant Claiborne had no right to Kent 
Island or to any part of Maryland, and quarrels arose 
which led to bloodshed. Claiborne has been called 
"the evil genius of Maryland." He had no charter 
giving him the land, only a license to establish a 
trading post and to make discoveries. But in spite 
of this he continued for years to give the Maryland 
colonists trouble, and at one time the governor was 
obliged to flee to Virginia for safety. In 1658 the 
English government decided that the Calverts and 
not Claiborne were entitled to Maryland, and peace 
was restored. 

For more than one hundred years a Calvert was 
at the head of the Maryland colony, but the question 
of whether Protestants or Catholics should rule came 
up again and again, and was not finally settled until 
1 7 14, when the fourth Lord Baltimore turned Prot- 
estant. 

Notwithstandinor its trouble with Claiborne and 

o 

its religious disagreements, Maryland continued to 
grow in numbers and wealth. In less than thirty 
years after its foundation the three hundred settlers 
that had at first lived in Indian wigwams had 



'yv//}W//A/i^^tiS.^////M/^^ w/fetfedtH '^y^.-— ^recvriv^kft/Z/^a^"/''"/"'/' 




60 100 



■1^-\ 'waTlinG'S I 

"\ ISLAND 

"~ 1492 



EUROPEAN COLONIES--ABOUT 1650 

163 



1 64 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

increased to ten thousand. It adopted many of the 
habits of its neighbor,Virginia. Both colonies con- 
tained wealthy planters, who lived in large brick 
houses and were famous for their hospitality. 

" Planters' tables you must know 
Are free to all that come and go." 

As there were so many rivers, creeks, and inlets 
along Chesapeake Bay, the planters depended upon 
boats to go from place to place, and the building 
of roads was neglected. But, if there were no high- 
ways, there were numerous bridle paths running in 
every direction through the forest, and every man, 
woman, and child could ride. Both Virginia and 
Maryland were slow in establishing schools. Both 
were slaveholders, and their chief industry was 
tobacco raising. The use of tobacco as money in 
the payment of bills seems strange to us. But long 
years after the period we are studying the Mary- 
land statehouse was purchased for forty thousand 
dollars' worth of tobacco. 

Cecil Calvert died in 1675, deeply mourned by his 
devoted colonists, who praised him for " his un- 
wearied care to preserve them in the enjoyment of 
their lives, liberties, and fortunes." At the time of his 
death there were nearly twenty thousand colonists in 
Maryland. In 1729 a new town was founded and 
named in his honor Baltimore. This has grown 
into a beautiful city, and is now one of the most 
important seaports on the Atlantic coast. 



LORD BALTIMORE 



165 



We have thus seen that Maryland was founded 
by a proprietor, and not by one of the companies 
such as had laid the beginnings of Virginia and 
Massachusetts. The kings who gave grants of 
land to American settlers knew very little about 
this new country, and often territory given in one 




Baltimore in 1752 
After an engraving in Scharf's " History of Baltimore." 

grant would overlap the land that had been named 
in another charter. In the early history of America 
there were many quarrels over boundary lines, and 
there was much dispute between Maryland and 
Pennsylvania as to where the line between them 
should be drawn. The question was finally settled 
in 1767 by two English surveyors, Charles Mason 
and Jeremiah Dixon. This boundary afterward be- 
came famous ; for, when the Northern states gave up 
slavery, it happened that " Mason and Dixon's line " 



i66 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

divided the slave states of the Union from those 
that beHeved all slaves should be freed. 



Things to Remember 

Maryland was founded in 1634 by the second Lord Baltimore. 

The territory was called Maryland in honor of the queen, Hen- 
rietta Maria, wife of Charles I. The first settlement was St. Mary's. 

The city of Baltimore, founded in 1729, was named for the 
founder of Maryland. 

The boundary line between Maryland and Pennsylvania was 
called "Mason and Dixon's line." It became famous as a divid- 
ing line between the states that believed in slavery and those that 
held all men should be free. 

Map Work. — Locate the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River, 
St. Mary's. 




A Maryland Shilling 



XV. WILLIAM PENN AND THE 
QUAKERS 

Penn : Born 1644 — Died 1718 

The Quaker of the olden time, 

How calm and firm and true. 
Unspotted by its wrong and crime, 
He walked the dark earth through. 
— Whittier's " The Quaker of the Olden Time." 

Among the people who suffered in England in 
the early times because of their religious beliefs, none 
were more persecuted than the Quakers. Their 
founder was George Fox, a young English shep- 
herd. While Fox tended his sheep on the hillside, 
his mind dwelt on serious matters, and he thought 
much about religion. He came to believe that 
every person, high or low, rich or poor, is given 
light from heaven for his own guidance, and that it 
is his duty to obey the light as it comes to him. 

In spite of ridicule and abuse Fox began to preach, 
and soon had many followers. He was often im- 
prisoned, but his faith remained unshaken. He 
kept on preaching that every man is the equal of 
every other, that we are all brothers, and that a king 
is no better than a laborer. 

In the same way that the Pilgrims and Puritans 

167 



i68 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



had separated from the EstabHshed Church, because 
they wished to simplify and purify their rehgion, so 
the Quakers withdrew, and formed the Society of 
Friends. They addressed every person as " Friend," 
and they used the terms " thee " and 
" thou " instead of " you." 

In place of regular church serv- 
ices the Quakers held " meetings." 
There was neither music nor ser- 
mon, but the people silently waited 
for a communication direct from 
God. When one felt that he had 
received such a message, he would 
rise and tell it to the others. 

The Friends would not take an 
oath of any kind to bind themselves 
to a promise or agreement ; for 
they said that a man's word was as 
good as an oath. Since they believed all men were 
equal, they would not take off their hats, even in 
the presence of a judge or king. Their clothing 
was drab in color and of the plainest cut. They 
loved quiet and thought wars were wrong, and 
that all men should live at peace. Consequently, 
they refused to serve in the army or navy, or to pay 
taxes for their support. It will readily be seen that 
the unusual beliefs of the Quakers and their refusal 
to obey the law of their country soon brought about 
serious trouble. 




A Quaker of the 
17TH Century 



WILLIAM PENN 



169 



These were stern fighting days, when the nations 
of Europe were almost constantly at war, and the 
peace-loving Quakers were laughed at and scorned. 
And not only were they ridiculed ; in England and 
New England they 
were shamefully 
abused. Hundreds 
were thrown into 
prison, some were 
hanged, and many 
more died from cruel 
treatment. The Puri- 
tans in Massachusetts 
showed them as little 
mercy as the English 
in the mother country. ^^^^^^^ p^^^ 

Quakers were flogged At the age of 22. After the portrait attrib- 
On Boston Common, med to sir Peter Lely. 

burned with hot irons, and driven from the com- 
munity. Many fled to New Jersey and started 
settlements of their own. 

In the year 1644, there was born in London a 
boy whose name was William Penn. He was des- 
tined to become one of the greatest Quakers of all 
time. His father was an admiral in the English 
navy, a wealthy and respected man. As the years 
went by, young William entered Oxford University, 
and was known there as a faithful student and a 
splendid oarsman. He was ready for sport of every 




lyo FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

kind, handsome, strong-willed, but with a sweetness 
of character that end.eared him to all who knew him. 

One day Penn happened to hear a Quaker talk, 
and from that time he declared himself a Friend. 
Because of his new religious belief,, he refused to 
attend the regular services of the college. His 
companions ridiculed him, and spoke of him as " a 
Quaker, or some other melancholy thing," but this 
had no effect upon Penn. He refused also to wear 
the college gown, preferring the simple dress of the 
Friends. The college authorities would not toler- 
ate his disobedience, and young Penn was expelled. 

Admiral Penn was very angry with his son for 
bringing such disgrace upon the family. He con- 
sidered that the boy's religious notions were the 
greatest folly, something that he would quickly for- 
get if he were placed in new surroundings, free 
from Quaker influence. " I will send him to 
France," said the admiral, " and there he will for- 
get all about the foolish Quakers." 

Accordingly, William found himself not long after- 
ward in Paris, and in the gay life of the French 
capital there was little time for religious devotion. 
He was a very attractive youth, just eighteen years 
old, tall and strong, with a frank, honest face, and 
beautiful brown hair that fell in curls on his shoul- 
ders. He was presented at court, spent much time 
in the fashionable world, and studied with an able 
French scholar. 



WILLIAM PENN' 171 

Returning to London after two years, he took up 
the study of law. But soon a terrible plague broke 
out, and again the mind of the young man turned 
to the religion of the Friends. This so angered his 
father that he refused even to see his son ; but 
William continued to attend Quaker meetings and 
wrote books on the Quaker belief. Finally, the 
London authorities imprisoned him, with several 
of his companions, in the gloomy old Tower. But, 
when Penn was released after several months, he 
was just as strong a Quaker as ever. A year or 
two afterward he was again imprisoned, and again 
released. 

At length, in 1674, he became greatly interested 
in the colonies in the New World. A small settle- 
ment of Friends had been made in New Jersey, and 
Penn had helped to end a dispute that had there 
arisen over the division of land. He had also been 
one of a company of Quakers that had purchased a 
part of New Jersey from the Carteret family. Lord 
Baltimore had founded in America a home for per- 
secuted Catholics. Why should not Penn make a 
home in this new country for his persecuted Quaker 
friends ? 

By this time Admiral Penn had died, leaving a 
large fortune to his son, and saying that he forgave 
him, and loved him all the more for having had the 
courage to suffer for his faith. About eighty thou- 
sand dollars was owed to William Penn by the Eng- 



172 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

lish government. King Charles II was not at all 
fond of parting with his money, so Penn proposed 
that he should receive land in America in payment 
of the debt. Accordingly, Charles gladly signed a 
charter, giving Penn forty thousand square miles 
of the wild land west of the Delaware River, the 
largest tract in America ever given to one person. 

With this light-hearted monarch Penn was on the 
best of terms. It is said that the first time the king 
met Penn in his Quaker dress, he was much amused 
to see that his friend kept his head covered. Charles 
removed his own hat, whereupon Penn asked, 
"Friend Charles, why dost thou remove thy hat.^" 
"Because," laughingly replied the king, "it is cus- 
tomary for only one person to remain covered in 
my presence." 

Penn proposed to give the name Sylvania to his 
land in the New World, but the king insisted that, 
in memory of the admiral, Penn's father, it should be 
called Pennsylvania, meaning Penn's Wood. 

In September, 1682, Penn set sail from England 
in the Welcome accompanied by two other vessels. 
In October the little fleet reached Newcastle on 
the Delaware River, where the Swedes gave them a 
hearty welcome. Penn divided his land into sec- 
tions, and sold it to the colonists at a very low 
price. 

He next chose, as a site for his capital, a strip of 
land between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. 



WILLIAM PENN 



173 



He found, however, that this tract was claimed by 
the Swedes, who had purchased it of the Indians 
and had built a little hamlet upon it, called Wicaco. 
Penn, therefore, paid the Swedes for it, and renamed 
the settlement Philadelphia, or " Brotherly Love." 




Penn making a Treaty with the Indians 
After the painting by West. 

Penn allowed the colonists a large share in the 
government. " You shall be ruled," said he, " by 
laws of your own making, and live a free, and, 
if you will, a sober and industrious people." He 
desired " to show men how free and happy they can 
be." He insisted that no person who believed in 
God should be persecuted on account of his religion, 
and that the Indians should be treated justly and 
kindly. He further required that the village should 



174 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

be laid out in wide streets, many of which were 
named from trees that shaded them, such as Wahiut, 
Spruce, and Chestnut. Each building lot was large 
enough to allow plenty of ground around the 
dwelling. 

Although the king had granted Penn the land, 
the latter thought the Indians should be paid for it, 
so he gave them enough blankets, knives, and 
trinkets to make them feel well treated. One of 
Penn's first acts was to make with the red men a 
treaty which has since become famous. 

Under a large elm tree, at a place called Shack- 
amaxon, on the Delaware River, the Friend met 
his Indian neighbors. He told the listening sav- 
ages that they came together " on the pathway 
of good faith and good will," and that he intended 
that everything between them should be " openness 
and love." The Indians were deeply impressed by 
his kind words and gentle manner, and replied, 
" We will live in love with William Penn and his 
children as long as the sun and moon shall shine." 

This treaty the natives carefully recorded in a 
wampum belt, still in existence. It consists of 
eighteen strings of black and white beads, in which 
are woven two figures clasping hands. These are 
supposed to represent an Indian and an English- 
man, with hands joined in friendship. Some one 
has said : " It was the only treaty never sworn to, 
and the only one never broken. " Though the 



WILLIAM PENN 



175 



Indians waged bitter war on the other colonies, they 
never shed a drop of Quaker blood during the years 
that the Friends controlled Pennsylvania. The 
elm tree under which Penn met the Indians was 
still standing in 18 10; the spot is now marked by a 
stone. 

Once a band of Indians found two strange white 
men asleep in the woods. The younger members 
of the party were about to disturb 
the sleepers, but the old warriors 
said : " These men are English, 
and they are our friends ; let 
them alone." Penn often visited 
the natives in their dirty wigwams, 
and ate with them. When some 
of the younger savages were hav- 
ing a contest in running, jump- 
ing, and leaping, Penn joined in 
the sport, and to their great 
astonishment outdid them all. After that their ad- 
miration for him became still greater. 

From the first Philadelphia attracted large 
numbers from all countries and of all beliefs. 
There were English, Swedes, Dutch, Germans, 
Scotch, Irish. At the time of its purchase, the little 
tract of clear ground was surrounded by a bound- 
less forest, through which the frightened deer ran 
from the invading settlers. Within a year, one 
hundred houses had been built; in two years Phila- 




Penn's Treaty 

Monument 



176 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

delphia had two thousand inhabitants ; and in three 
it had grown more than*the city of New York grew 
in its first fifty years. 

Before the close of the seventeenth century, Phila- 
delphia contained many handsome brick houses and 
fine squares and courts. The people were happy 
and prosperous, and it was said that there was not a 
beggar in the city. This undoubtedly was largely 
due to the wise rule of Penn, that every child should 
be taught some trade, so that when he grew up he 
might earn his own living. 

After a time business matters recalled Penn to 
Enorland. Amons^ other thinsfs, he wished to have 
the question of the boundary line between his land 
and Lord -Baltimore's settled by the king. Pie was 
justly proud of the condition of his colony. " We 
are the wonder of our neighbors," said the happy 
founder. The settlers were sorrowful at his depar- 
ture, and his affection for them was shown in his 
parting words : " Dear friends, my love salutes you 
all." 

Penn took up his residence in Kensington, and, 
through his great influence with the king, thou- 
sands of imprisoned Quakers were set at liberty. 
Many years later, in company with his wife and 
daughter, Penn returned to Pennsylvania. His 
town residence was on what is now Second Street, 
between Chestnut and Walnut. It was a spacious 
house, with a slate roof, beautifully furnished with 



WILLIAM PENN 



177 



massive pieces of mahogany and walnut brought 
from England. There were "plushes, satins, and 
even carpets, which were enjoyed by few but princes 
in those days." The dining hall would seat a large 
number, but Penn's hospitality was so great that 




Thl tiRhi Town IIml v\i) Colrt IIouse^ Philadelphia 

often his guests would overflow into the adjoining 
rooms. He once gave a dinner for which one hun- 
dred roast turkeys were provided. In this fine man- 
sion his son John was born, the only one of his 
children who was a native American. Penn had 
also a beautiful country house on the Delaware 
River. 

But again Penn was obliged to return to Eng- 
land. His business had been mismanaged by a dis- 



1 78 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

honest agent, and the great and good man, who had 
done so much for others, found himself on the verge 
of bankruptcy. His affairs were in such serious con- 
dition that he was even thrown into Fleet Prison 
for debt. This villainy on the part of a trusted 
agent, and the disgrace and confinement of prison 
life, shattered Penn's health. He died in England, 
in" 1718, after a long illness, and lies buried in the 
churchyard of a little Quaker meeting house, not 
many miles from London. 

The Indians, as well as the colonists, were very 
sad when they heard of the death of their friend. 
The Indians sent Mrs. Penn the choicest furs that 
could be found. " These," they said, " are for a cloak 
to protect you while passing through this thorny 
wilderness without your guide." 

Little did King Charles dream, when he granted 
his young Quaker friend a tract of land in the for- 
est of America nearly as large as England, that he 
had parted with an immense fortune. Could he 
have known that underneath Penn's Wood there 
were vast mines of coal and iron, worth millions of 
dollars, the Quaker colonists would probably never 
have built their cozy homes and tilled their little 
farms in Pennsylvania. 

Things to Remember 

Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, an Englishman, in 
1682. 



WILLIAM PENN 



179 



Pennsylvania means Penn's Wood. 

William Penn was a Quaker. He founded the colony in Penn- 
sylvania as a refuge for persecuted Quakers. 

Philadelphia was the first settlement. The word means "Broth- 
erly Love." 

Penn made a famous treaty with the Indians, which was never 
broken. 

People from many countries besides England found a welcome 
in Pennsylvania. 

Map Wo7-k. — Note the location of Philadelphia between the 
Schuylkill and the Delaware. Why was it a good place for a city? 




Letitia Cottage, Penn's City Residence 
Parts of it were prepared in England and shipped 

to Philadelphia. From Watson's "Annals of 

Philadelphia." 



XVI. JAMES OGLETHORPE 

Born 1689 — Died 1785 

Peace to the just man's memory; let it grow 
Greener with years, and blossom through the flight 
Of ages ; let the mimic canvas show 
His calm benevolent featm-es ; let the light 
Stream on his deeds of love. 

— Bryant^s " The Ages." 

We have seen that the chief reason for founding 
colonies in America was the desire for freedom from 
persecution and for greater poHtical Hberty. The 
colony of Georgia, whose founder was James Ogle- 
thorpe, was likewise started largely for the purpose 
of helping the unfortunate and oppressed. 

James Oglethorpe belonged to an old and re- 
spected English family. When his college days 
were over, he joined' the army, served under the 
great Duke of Marlborough, and later was made a 
general. 

Now it happened that in England at that time 
there was a law which made it possible to send a 
man to jail for debt. The prisons were wretched 
places, dismal, dirty, and unheal thful. Every year 
thousands of men were confined in them, simply 
because they had the misfortune to be poor and in 
debt. Unless their families or friends brought them 
food, they were left to starve. 

180 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 



i8i 



One day an unfortunate friend of General Ogle- 
thorpe, having failed in business, was seized and 
thrown into prison. Oglethorpe had been for some 
time deeply interested in the condition of the Eng- 
lish prisons, and he now became more active than 






/ 4 C 














'-Xb-^^i^ 



>. 



King's Bench Prison, London 
A poor debtor's prison of the eighteenth century. 

ever in his investigations. He found such dreadful 
conditions that his kind heart was filled with pity, 
and he rnade up his mind that the prisoners should 
be released, and those who were willing to work 
given a fresh start amid new surroundings. How 
could men earn money to pay their debts while con- 
fined in foul jails ? 

At length General Oglethorpe thought of a plan, 
which he proposed to King George. " Let us," said 



i82 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

he, " form a colony in America, where these dis- 
tressed people may be given another chance to 
make their way in the world." The plan was 
carefully discussed, and it was decided to plant such 
a colony near South Carolina. North and South 
Carolina were young settlements of English, Ger- 
mans, Scotch, Irish, and French Huguenots. They 
were in constant fear of attack from the Spaniards 
in Florida, and would welcome neighbors. The 
proposed new colony, therefore, would provide an- 
other military post against England's old enemy, 
and against hostile Indians. Persecuted Protes- 
tants from all the countries of Europe were to be 
allowed to join it. 

In the one hundred and twenty-six years that 
had passed since Captain John Smith and his Eng- 
lish companions landed at Jamestown, twelve colo- 
nies had been planted along the Atlantic sea- 
board from Maine to Florida. In New England 
were Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, 
and New Hampshire; in what we now call the 
Middle States, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, 
and Pennsylvania, and in the South, Virginia, 
Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina. 

In 1732, the year in which George Washington 
was born, plans for the new colony were completed. 
The English government gave Oglethorpe two 
thousand pounds, and another large sum was raised 
by generous friends. The king then granted to 




i) Cape Hatteras 

A T L A N T 1 C 



GULF 



M E X ICO 

Cape Sable 



The Colonies in 1734 
183 



i84 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

the general and his associates, " in trust for the 
poor," a charter of the territory lying on the sea- 
coast below South Carolina, between the Savannah 
and Altamaha rivers. In honor of the English 
ruler, this land was to be called Georgia. Ogle- 
thorpe was to act as governor of the colony. 

With about one hundred and twenty happy emi- 
grants. General Oglethorpe set sail in the Aime in 
the winter of 1732, and early in January arrived 
safely at Charleston. There were thirty-five families 
in all, and among the men were carpenters, brick- 
layers, farmers, and mechanics. 

After exploring the lovely Savannah River, Ogle- 
thorpe chose a site on a high bluff, and laid the 
foundation of a little town, now the beautiful city of 
Savannah. Imagine the joy of these released pris- 
oners in their new-found freedom ! The sound of 
the ax rang through the woods, and cabins were 
quickly built. Oglethorpe marked out broad streets, 
and left plenty of room for public squares and parks. 

The governor was very successful in keeping 
peace with the Indians. He paid them for their 
land and gave them many presents. His dignified 
appearance, his kindness and mercy, and his sweet 
nature won their confidence. A chief of one of the 
tribes presented him with a buffalo skin, on the in- 
side of which was painted in rude Indian fashion 
the head of an eagle. " The feathers of the eagle 
are soft and signify love," said the warrior, " and the 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 185 

warm buffalo skin means protection ; therefore love 
and protect our families." 

One day Red Shoes, another chief, appeared in 
the English settlement. " We have come a great 
way," said the Indian, "and we are a great nation. 
The French are building forts around us against our 




Early Savannah, Georgia 
From a London print dated 1741. 

liking. We have long traded with them, but they 
are poor in goods ; we desire to trade with you." 
Soon Oglethorpe could write home that the Indians 
"for seven hundred miles" were friends of the 
Georgia colonists. 

The English in Georgia were joined by many 
Scotch Highlanders, and by a number of Germans. 
As these settlers were hard-working, thrifty people, 
they were very welcome. " General Oglethorpe's 
undertaking will succeed," wrote the governor of 
South Carolina, "for he nobly devotes all his powers 
to rescue the poor from their wretchedness." 



i86 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

When the colony was well started, the governor 
went back to England, taking with him Tomochichi, 
an Indian chief whose friendship had been of the 
greatest service to Georgia. When the governor 
returned in 1736, three hundred men and women 
came with him, and among the number was the 
celebrated leader of the Methodists, John Wesley. 
" They all knelt and returned thanks to God for 
having safely arrived in Georgia." A new town 
was now started at Frederica, and a fort was built 
for better defense against the Spaniards. 

As there were many mulberry trees in Georgia, 
the settlers sent to Europe for silkworms ; for the 
silkworm feeds on the leaf of the mulberry tree. 
It was hoped that the colony would produce a great 
quantity of silk. In view of this, and of the unselfish 
motives of its founders, the seal of the colony bore a 
group of silkworms, and the motto, Non sibi, sed 
aliis — ■'' Not for themselves, but for others." 

Enough silk thread was soon sent to London to 
make a dress for the queen, who felt proud to wear 
this first gown of American silk. But the colonists 
found that they could not make a living from silk, 
so they tilled the ground, carried on fur trade with 
the Indians, and cut down timber, which they sold 
in the West Indies. General Oglethorpe forbade 
dealing in slaves, but after he gave up the manage- 
ment of the colony, negroes were bought and large 
plantations of rice and indigo were cultivated. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 



187 



The Spaniards gave the Georgia settlers a great 
deal of trouble, but in spite of this the colony pros- 
pered, though it grew slowly in numbers. Six years 
after it was founded, war was declared between 
England and Spain. " Now," thought Governor 
Oglethorpe, " the time has come to subdue the 
Spaniards in America." 
The people of South 
Carolina gladly joined him, 
and in the spring of 1 740 
an attack was made on 
St. Augustine. But the 
Spaniards drove the Eng- 
lish back, and they were 
obliged to return home 
without having conquered 
their enemy. 

Two years later a Span- 
ish fleet of thirty vessels 
with five thousand men set out to capture Savannah. 
Although Oglethorpe had less than one thousand 
men, his splendid military skill and great courage 
won the day, and the invaders were glad to retreat 
to Florida. After that Georgia was never in danger 
of being attacked by Spaniards. 

After many years of usefulness, General Ogle- 
thorpe grew tired of active life, and doubtless thought 
he had earned a rest. He went to reside at his 
beautiful country home in Essex, England, where 




James Edward Oglethorpe 
After the painting by Ravenet. 



1 88 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

he was often visited by the most noted men of the 
country. He lived to be nearly ninety years old, and 
retained to the last his fine figure and bright eyes. 
Before his death the American colonies had declared 
themselves free from the mother country, and his 
little Georgia settlement had become an independ- 
ent state. 

No one of the men who laid the beginnings of 
the American nation was a wiser or a nobler man 
than James Oglethorpe. " The gentleness of his 
nature appeared in all his actions ; he was merciful 
to the prisoner; a father to the emigrant. He loved 
to relieve the needy and to soothe the mourner." 

Such was the founder of Georgia, the last of the 
thirteen original English colonies. 

Things to Remember 
Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe, an Englishman, in 

1733- 

It was started as a refuge for unfortunate Englishmen imprisoned 
for debt, and to help protect South Carolina from the Spaniards 
in Florida. 

The Englishmen were soon joined by persecuted Protestants 
from many countries in Europe. 

The colony was named in honor of King George 11. 

Savannah was the first settlement. 

Georgia was the last of the thirteen original English colonies in 
America. 

Map Work. — Locate Savannah. Note its approximate dis- 
tance from Charleston and St. Augustine. 



XVII. KING PHILIP 

Born (?) — Died 1676 

It is the spot I came to seek — 
My father's ancient burial-place, 

Ere from these vales, ashamed and weak. 
Withdrew our wasted race. 

It is the spot — I know it well — 

Of which our old traditions tell. 



This bank, in which the dead were laid. 

Was sacred when its soil was ours ; 
Hither the silent Indian maid 

Brought wreaths of beads and flowers, 
And the gray chief and gifted seer 
Worshiped the god of thunders here. 
— Bryant's "An Indian at the Burial-place of his Fathers." 

Do you remember the story of Massasoit, the 
Indian chief, who was such a good friend of Miles 
Standish and the Pilgrims in New England ? Sad 
to say, his son, who called himself "King" PhiHp, 
waged war on the Englishmen, and caused much 
bloodshed and great loss of life. 

One day while Massasoit was still alive, the 
Plymouth colonists beheld the old chieftain walk- 
ing into their settlement with his two sons, Wam- 
sutta and Metacomet. He had come to ask his 



I90 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

paleface friends to give the lads English names. 
Thereafter these two young Indians were known 
as Alexander and Philip. 

After the death of Massasoit, Alexander, the elder, 
became chief of the tribe of Wampanoags. The 
Plymouth settlers did not trust him as they had 
trusted his father, and at length they suspected that 
he was plotting to destroy them. So they had him 
brought to Plymouth, but they were unable to prove 
the charges against him. On the way home Alex- 
ander suddenly fell ill, and a few hours later he 
died. His young wife declared that the English 
had poisoned him. Soon other Indians shared her 
belief and began to talk of revenge. 

Philip, who now became chief, took for himself 
the title of "king." He wore a crown of wampum 
decorated with shells, and on very important occa- 
sions wrapped around his shoulders a bright scarlet 
blanket. Such was his idea of a king's robe. 

The English had always considered Philip a 
brave, wise, energetic Indian, and a good friend. 
Now, when he became "king," he renewed his 
father's treaties, and for two or three years the 
relations between the whites and redskins were as 
pleasant as formerly. 

But there were many who still believed that the 
death of Alexander should be avenged. Further- 
more, the shrewd savages were beginning to see 
that the coming of the white men had not made life 



KING PHILIP 



91 



easier or better for them. Gradually, and almost 
without the Lndians' noticing it, the palefaces had 
taken possession of the best land. Only the swamps 
and less desirable places were left for the redskins. 
Armed with muskets, the English had hunted so 
much that the Indians w^ere 
finding it harder and harder 
to get game. "In a short 
time," thought they, "we shall 
have no hunting ground left, 
and the English will be glad 
to have us starve, for then they 
can take the whole country." 

At first Philip paid little 
attention to the discontent felt 
by his tribe, but after a while 
the complaints of the white 
man's trespassing became so frequent that he was 
forced to listen to them. 

Meantime, a great and good Englishman, John 
Eliot, was making his way through the wilderness, 
preaching to the savages, and converting many of 
them to Christianity. The unconverted braves 
sneeringly called them " praying Indians." Now 
Eliot's missionary work was stoutly opposed by 
Philip, who argued that the religion of his old father, 
Massasoit, w^as good enough for him and for his people. 

By 1670 matters had reached a crisis. The In- 
dians determined to get all the tribes of New England 




King Philip 



192 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

to join against the white men and drive them from 
the country. But they found, to their disgust, that 
the " praying Indians " would not allow a white man 
to be harmed. They were even willing to sacrifice 
their own lives for the English. This made Philip 
more angry than ever. 

The Massachusetts colonists happened to hear 
that Philip and his Wampanoags were turning 
against them, so they sent for him to come to Ply- 
mouth and talk over his grievances. Philip attended 
this council, but was careful to bring with him a 
guard of seventy armed warriors. After a long and 
friendly discussion, however, he signed a paper which 
guaranteed lasting peace, and the Indians promised 
to give up firearms, which the English had long be- 
fore taught them to use. 

Although there was no open hostility for some 
time after this, the whites well knew that the Indians 
were growing more and more sullen and discon- 
tented. By 1675 King Philip had become so bitter 
toward the colonists that he openly prepared for war. 
He sent the women and children of his people to 
the tribe of the Narragansetts for protection, and gave 
warning to a few of the white settlers to whom he 
had become attached. Finally he made all his peo- 
ple swear to be forever hostile to the white man. 
And then began a horrible war that for nearly two 
years raged in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 
Rhode Island. 



KING PHILIP 



193 



On a pleasant summer day in 1675, Philip made 
an attack on Swansea, a little settlement about thirty 
miles south of Plymouth. It was Sunday, and the 
Pilgrims were walking quietly home from church, 
talking about the danger of Indian attack. Sud- 
denly, from behind rocks and trees, they were fired 




King Philip signing the Treaty of 1671 
After the engraving by F. T. Merrill. 

upon by the savages. Several Englishmen fell, 
killed or wounded. 

This was the Indian method of fighting. The 
red men never came out in the open and made a 
bold assault, but always hid behind some shelter, 
until their victim was too near to escape. Then, 
with a horrible war whoop, they sprang forward like 
panthers and did their deadly work. 



194 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

News of the attack at Swansea spread rapidly, and 
the colonists became thoroughly aroused. Soon the 
entire frontier was terror-stricken ; even the women 
and boys armed themselves to defend their lives and 
homes. No white man's cabin was safe, for the In- 
dians would watch from their hiding places to see the 
men leave the dwelling ; then they would rush in, 
steal the women and children, set fire to the building, 
and drag their prisoners into the forest. 

With about fifteen hundred Indians Philip swept 
over the country, calling on all the red men to kill 
the palefaces. Groton, Medfield, Marlborough, and 
many other English settlements were destroyed, and 
the few colonists who escaped with their lives fled 
to the woods in terror. Brookfield and Deerfield 
were burned, but by a curious circumstance Hadley 
escaped. Hadley is a little town on the Connecticut 
River and this is the story as it is still told by the 
townspeople : — 

When the furious savages burst upon this unpro- 
tected little hamlet, the people in their fright and 
confusion seemed unable to make any defense. 
Suddenly there appeared a strange old man with a 
long white beard, whom no one had ever seen before. 
Immediately he took the leadership and gave a mili- 
tary command. The astonished settlers quickly re- 
covered their senses, fell into fighting order, and 
following their venerable leader drove the enemy 
from their gates. Then the old man disappeared as 



KING PHILIP 



195 



mysteriously as he had come, and the astonished 
villagers believed that God had sent an angel to 
their rescue. It was afterward thought that this man 
was William Goffe, one of the Englishmen who had 
sentenced King Charles I to death, and who was 




Goffe repulsing the Indians at Hadley 
After the engraving by Corbould. 

then hiding in America to escape the vengeance of 
Charles II. 

Several tribes of Indians had intrenched them- 
selves for the winter in a fort or palisade, which 
stood in what is now the town of Kingston, Rhode 
Island. This section was then little more than a 
swamp, and the savages had built their barricade of 
such strong timber that they felt perfectly secure. 
They preferred to do their fighting when the leaves 



MH 



196 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

were on the trees to afford shelter. Inside the fort 
were two thousand Indian warriors and many women 
and children. 

But the savages were soon to learn that they had 
made a mistake in collecting so many men in one 
place. As some one has said, they were " cooped 
up for slaughter." The English had no idea of 
delaying the war until warm weather. In the mid- 
dle of the winter about one thousand well-armed 
colonists under Governor Winslow marched on a 
terribly stormy day to the fort of the Narragansetts. 
How they suffered from the stinging cold, the bit- 
ing wind, and the fatigue of wading for miles through 
deep snowdrifts ! But at last they reached their 
journey's end. 

The Indians were taken entirely by surprise, 
though they fought desperately. One after another 
the white men were shot down, until more than two 
hundred lay dead or dying on the snow-covered 
marshes. The Indians were killed in even greater 
numbers, and at last the English set fire to the 
palisade. Five hundred wigwams were burned to 
the ground, and with them perished nearly one 
thousand Indians. 

Canonchet, chief of the tribe, made his escape, 
but later was taken prisoner by the English. One 
of the leaders of the colonists, himself so badly 
wounded that he had to be supported, said to Ca- 
nonchet: " Promise that you will try to make peace 



KING PHILIP 



197 



and we will spare your life." But the old chief 
stoically replied : " I would rather die before my 
heart becomes soft, and I say anything unworthy of 
myself. We will fight to the last man rather than 
become your slaves." 

The Indians who had escaped destruction waited 
until spring before they tried to get their revenge. 
Then five English settlements in Massachusetts, 
and two in Rhode Is- 
land, were destroyed. 
But the white people 
were desperate. They 
knew they were fight- 
ing not only for their 
own lives, but for the 
future of the whole 
white race in Amer- 
ica. With heroic ef- 
fort they struggled to subdue Philip by force of 
arms. At the same time they made every effort 
to keep the confidence of the few friendly Indians, 
hoping through their help to lessen the number of 
Philip's supporters. 

At length Captain Benjamin Church of Plymouth, 
a famous Indian fighter, led an expedition to hunt 
for Philip and to destroy him. Church succeeded 
in capturing the Indian's wife and child, and sent 
them as slaves to the Bermuda Islands. Philip 
knew that they were likely to be worked to death 




Garrison House at York 
Built against Indian attacks in 1640-44. 
was standing until 1889. 



198 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

in the hot sun, or cruelly beaten by the slave- 
driver's whip. The child was a boy nine years old 
and the last of the race of Massasoit. " My heart 
is broken," said Philip, " and now I am ready to 
die ! " 

In August an Indian deserter guided Captain 
Church's party at midnight to Philip's camp, near 
Mount Hope, Rhode Island. The Indians were 
asleep, but Philip wakened at the sound of the first 
strange footsteps. He seized his musket and tried 
to escape, but stumbled, and as he fell he was shot 
dead by the Indian who had betrayed him. King 
Philip's head was then cut off and carried on the 
point of a spear to Plymouth, where it was exposed 
as a warning to the Indians. 

The death of Philip ended the war, for by this 
time there remained only a few savages of the fight- 
ing tribes. The struggle had cost the English 
more than a thousand lives, and a great deal of 
money. Twelve of the early towns in Massachu- 
setts had been completely destroyed, and many 
farms were laid waste. 

But, with the perseverance and courage that the 
New Englanders have always shown, they now went 
to work with a will to repair the dreadful damage. 
After a few years the fields again yielded rich har- 
vests ; and new buildings, larger and better than 
the first, took the place of those that the Indians 
had destroyed. 



KING PHILIP 199 

Things to Remember 

A terrible war between the English and the Indians occurred in 
New England in 1675 ^^^ 1676. 

It is known in history as King Philip's War, because Philip, 
chief of the Wampanoags, was the leader. 

The Indians feared that the white people were taking so much 
land that they would soon have none left for hunting grounds. 

During the war twelve towns in Massachusetts were utterly de- 
stroyed, and more than one thousand white persons were killed. 

The English finally won, and King Philip's War ended forever 
the power of the Indians in New England. 



King Philip's " Mark " 



XVIII. NATHANIEL BACON 

Born 1647 — Died 1676 

One song of Liberty and Life 

That was and is to be, 
Till tyrant flags are trampled rags 

And all the world is free ! 

— Stanton's " A Song of Liberty." 

While King Philip's War was being waged in 
New England, the English in Virginia were finding 
it difficult to protect their lives and property from 
Indian attack. 

The men who were chosen to govern the young 
American colonies did not always understand the 
needs of the settlers. The experiment of found- 
ing a nation in a new world was a difficult one. 
Many mistakes were made, and the colonists often 
suffered from unjust laws. For example, the Vir- 
ginia settlers were forbidden to send tobacco to 
foreign ports except on English vessels, and they 
could import goods only from England. In this 
way the mother country could pay as little as she 
pleased for tobacco, and charge as much as she 
liked for the articles of commerce sent to America. 
The colonists were quite helpless. In addition to 
this, they were compelled to pay heavy taxes from 
which they did not receive any benefit. 

200 



NATHANIEL BACON 201 

Now William Berkeley, who was sent as gov- 
ernor to Virginia, first in 1642, and again in 1660, 
was much disliked by the settlers. He was a brave 
soldier, a loyal friend of the king, and in many 
respects a good man; but he was tyrannical, and 
tried not so much to help the Virginians as to 
increase his own property and send money back 
to England. He lived in fine style and has been 
called a "man of velvet and gold lace." He kept 
stables full of horses, of which he was extremely 
proud. The discouraged colonists felt that he cared 
much more for his horses than for them. 

In Governor Berkeley's time the Indians were 
beginning to cause the Virginians much anxiety. 
Many fine families in England who had been friends 
of Charles I, dissatisfied with conditions at home 
after his death, had come to Virginia ; among them 
were the ancestors of George Washington. These 
people had lived on great estates, and they preferred 
to continue a country life in America. It therefore 
happened that there were few merchants and no 
large towns in Virginia. The tobacco plantations 
covered many acres of ground, and the houses of 
the settlers were long distances apart. When the 
men were at work in the fields, or were riding over 
their estates, the women and children were at the 
mercy of prowling Indians. 

At last the scattered settlers were in such urgent 
need of protection from the savages that they begged 



202 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

the governor to call out military force, but he paid 
no attention to their pleading. He well knew how 
much the colonists disliked him, and he was afraid 
that an armed body of men might turn against him 
and his friends. His enemies in the colony said 
that he was carrying on such a profitable fur trade 
with the Indians that he did not care to have their 
ill will. 

In addition to all this, Berkeley did not believe in 
religious toleration, and when Quakers came to Vir- 
ginia he showed them no mercy. Last of all, he 
did not believe in free schools and the education 
of the poor. He even went so far as to say of 
his colony : " Thank God there are no free schools 
or printing-presses, and I hope there will be none 
for a hundred years." He believed that only the 
children of the rich should be educated. 

The Virginia colonists, who now numbered forty 
thousand, had good reason for finding fault with 
Governor Berkeley. For the sake of freedom and 
greater opportunity, they had crossed the seas. 
Now they found themselves under a governor who 
practically said : " I will not even try to protect 
your lives from the Indians ; I will not allow reli- 
gious freedom; and I will not allow you to choose 
whether your children shall be educated." 

Among the Virginia colonists was a wealthy, elo- 
quent young Englishman, with unusual courage and 
a strong will. He was twenty-eight years old, well 



NATHANIEL BACON 



203 



educated, tall, and commanding. His name was 
Nathaniel Bacon. He and his young wife lived on 
a large tobacco plantation near the head of the 
James River, and would have found life very pleas- 
ant, had it not been for the hourly fear of Indian 
attacks. 

Almost immediately Bacon became popular with 
the Virginians, and they soon looked to him as a 




Westover Mansion on the James River 
Its owner, Colonel Byrd, held a command under Bacon during the rebeUion. 



leader. The Indians were growing bolder and 
bolder. They would steal from the plantations, 
and would often kill the men who tried to protect 
their own or their master's property. 

One day in 1675 ^^ Indian murdered an overseer 
em^ployed on one of Bacon's plantations, and the 
young man demanded that Governor Berkeley take 
steps to prevent such an outrage occurring again. 
As usual, the governor paid no attention to the 



204 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 
request. Bacon decided, therefore, that the time had 




Bacon confronting Berkeley 
After the painting by Kelley. 



come when the planters ^ould have to take matters 
into their own hands. 

Five hundred men of the neighborhood organized 



NATHANIEL BACON 205 

themselves Into a company, and, headed by Bacon, 
asked permission of the governor to go out to fight 
their red foes. But Berkeley still refused to pay any 
attention to the matter, so Bacon waited no longer 
for a regular commission. He marched against the 
enemy, set fire to their palisades, and killed one 
hundred and fifty redskins with the loss of only 
three of his own men. 

He now entered Jamestown, followed by his loyal 
neighbors, and demanded that the governor give 
him a commission to continue fighting the savages. 
Berkeley was furious. He called Bacon's conduct 
" treason," said that he was " the greatest rebel that 
ever was in Virginia," and ordered his arrest. But 
the colonists were true friends of Bacon and in- 
sisted that he should be released. 

Bacon saw that something further must be done, 
for the settlers could not continue to submit to the 
tyranny of such a man as their governor. Knowing 
that he was backed by the entire colony. Bacon drew 
up his troops, and at the point of the sword de- 
manded that Berkeley give him a commission. One 
of the frightened burgesses called out: " Hold your 
hand, and you may have what you please." Thus 
was the angry governor forced to make Bacon major 
general. 

The next thing that the people did was to insist 
upon a new House of Burgesses, or body of law- 
makers, and Bacon was elected a member. Through 



2o6 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

his influence the severe laws of Jamestown were re- 
pealed, and many reforms introduced. These new 
measures were called " Bacon's Laws." 

Not long afterward Nathaniel Bacon heard of a 
cruel Indian attack only a few miles away, and 
marched with his men to punish the offenders. As 
soon as he had gone, the governor attempted to 
undo all the good that had been done. He called 
together a body of troops from near-by colonies 
with the idea of following Bacon and attacking 
him. But, when the troops found what was ex- 
pected of them, they refused to move. It is said 
that the governor fainted from rage and disappoint- 
ment. 

When Bacon heard what the governor had tried 
to do, he marched straight to Jamestown. Berkeley 
learned of his coming and fled to one of the ships of 
the English fleet lying in the harbor. 

Jamestown was now entirely in the hands of 
Bacon, but he was soon obliged to leave it to put 
down another Indian attack. This battle completely 
broke the power of the savages, and for a long time 
afterward they gave the English no trouble. It was 
fought on ground that is now a part of the city 
of Richmond. A stream that flows near it is to this 
day called " Bloody Run," because it is said that on 
the day of the battle it ran red with the blood of the 
Indians. 

Of course the governor was watching for an op- 



NATHANIEL BACON 207 

portunity to return to Jamestown, and he did so as 
soon as Bacon had again departed to punish the 
redskins. Berkeley had httle trouble in landing, 
as most of the fighting men were away ^ith their 
leader. 

When, however. Bacon had subdued the Indians, 
he drove Berkeley again from Jamestown. Once 
more was the orovernor forced to retreat to his ves- 
sels, but he did not succeed in subduing the rebel- 
lious colonists. Bacon and his friends resolved that 
Governor Berkeley should never again enter James- 
town, so they promptly burned the town to the 
ground. It is said that Bacon himself set fire to 
his home. A heap of ruins is all that is now left 
of this first English colony in America, which Cap- 
tain Smith and others had worked so hard to found. 
A crumbling old church tower, with arched door- 
way, may be seen by any one sailing up the James 
River. It is partly hidden from view by the lovely 
green shrubbery and the ivy and moss that cling 
to its walls. 

It was most unfortunate for Virginia that Na- 
thaniel Bacon died of a fever in 1676, not long after 
the burning of Jamestown. The months that he 
had spent in the malarial marshes fighting the In- 
dians had undermined his health, and the hard 
work, strain, and anxiety had sadly weakened him. 
He died idolized by the Virginia colonists, who hid 
his body, fearing that Berkeley would hang it if it 



2o8 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



could be found. No stone marks the grave of this 
daring young leader, and even his burial place is 
unknown. 

Berkeley revenged himself by hanging many of 
the men who were Bacon's friends. When one of 
the young man's most loyal supporters was brought 




Jamestown in 1857 
After a drawing by Miss C. C. Hopley. 

to Berkeley a prisoner, the governor said grimly: 
" You are welcome. I am glad to see you. You shall 
be hanged in half an hour." When Charles II heard 
of this, he was very angry, and exclaimed: " That 
old fool has taken more lives in his naked country 
than I have taken for my father's murder." King 
Charles had condemned to death only six of the fifty- 
nine men who had voted that his father, Charles I, 
should be beheaded. The king at once recalled 



NATHANIEL BACON 209 

Berkeley to England, and rebuked him for his 
cruelty to the American colonists. This was more 
than the loyal old governor could stand, and it is 
said that he died of a broken heart. 

Although Nathaniel Bacon did not live to see the 
result of his efforts for better government, the colo- 
nists profited by them. They always remembered 
" Bacon's Laws " and " Bacon's Rebellion," and they 
never ceased to protest against tyranny. Exactly 
one hundred years after this uprising against unjust 
government, all of the American colonies rebelled 
against the tyrannical laws of the mother country. 
We shall see, at the proper time, what an active and 
important part Virginia played in this great move- 
ment. 

Things to Remember 

Nathaniel Bacon of Virginia was one of the first men to attempt 
to reform England's unjust government of her American colonies. 

William Berkeley, governor of Virginia, refused in 1675 to give 
the colonists military protection against hostile Indians. 

Nathaniel Bacon then organized a party of armed men and sub- 
dued the savages. 

As a member of the House of Burgesses, Bacon urged the 
passage of laws that would give the colonists greater freedom. 

In the struggle known as Bacon's Rebellion Jamestown was 
destroyed in 1676. 



XIX. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

Born 1706 — Died 1790 

God bless our native land ! 
Firm may she ever stand, 

Through storm and night. 
When the wild tempests rave, 
Ruler of wind and wave. 
Do Thou our country save, 

By Thy great might. 
— Brooks's "God Bless Our Native Land." 

We are now comino^ to the time when the 
American colonies united to free themselves from 
the rule of England. As we have already seen, 
nearly all of the settlements had been started by 
men who sought freedom from oppression. But the 
mother country had not yet learned how to rule her 
children so that they could be happy and contented. 
She did not realize what they had suffered for the 
sake of greater independence, and she did not dream 
how much more they w^ere willing to suffer to pre- 
serve that independence. 

Among the brave, wise leaders who guided the 
struggling colonists in their trouble with England 
was Benjamin Franklin. The story of his life is full 
of interest. He was born in Boston in 1706, the 
fifteenth of seventeen children. At the time of 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 211 

his birth his father and mother were living in a 
small wooden house on Milk Street, and Benjamin 
was baptized in the historic Old South Church. 
The}^ were English people, industrious and re- 
spected in the community. 

Benjamin early became popular with his play- 
mates, and was looked upon as a leader whom they 
would cheerfully follow on any adventure. The 
boys were in the habit of fishing from the edge of a 
salt marsh that was little better than a mud hole. 
One day Benjamin's active mind devised a plan for 
making the marsh a more comfortable fishing 
ground. Under cover of the darkness he piloted his 
companions to a great heap of stones that were in- 
tended for use in building a house. These stones 
the boys carried to the water's edge, even though it 
took three or four boys to carry one stone. It was 
hard work, but they toiled with a will, and at last 
they completed a fairly good wharf from w4iich to 
fish. 

Imagine the surprise and anger of the vv^orkmen the 
next morning when they found what had happened ! 
The boys' parents, also, were very indignant, but 
Benjamin declared that, as a dock was needed, they 
had done a serviceable piece of w^ork. Benjamin 
said afterward that his father had then and there 
taught him a great truth, that " nothing can ever be 
truly useful, which is not at the same time truly 
honest." 



212 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



At eight years of age Benjamin entered a grammar 
school. He was a bright boy and could not remem- 
ber the time when he was not able to read. His 
father had intended to send him to college, and 
hoped that his son would some day be a clergyman. 
But the expense of rearing his large family was so 

great that Mr. Frank- 
lin could not afford to 
keep the boy in school. 
Consequently, when 
ten years old, Ben- 
jamin was put to 
work in his father's 
soap and candle fac- 
tory, cutting wicks for 
candles, filling the 
molds with tallow, and 
running errands. 

But he was not at 
all interested in mak- 
ing soap and candles. 
He had always lived near the water and was fond 
of sailing boats. This made him think that he 
would like to spend his life on the sea. He liked 
also to read, and would pore for hours over the 
pages of the few books he could obtain. 

By the time Benjamin was twelve years of age 
his father had decided that the boy would not long 
be contented with work in the candle factory. 




Benjamin Franklin 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 213 

What was to be done with him ? It was necessary 
that he should earn his own hving, and as he had 
a great love for books, why should he not be taught 
printing? If he became interested in printing, his 
father and mother need no longer worry over the 
possibility of his running away to become a sailor. 
Benjamin's older brother James was already carrying 
on a successful printing business in Boston, and to 
him Benjamin was now apprenticed, or bound, for 
nine years. 

From the start young Benjamin showed great 
ability in his new work and soon became extremely 
useful to his brother. His new acquaintances were 
glad to lend him books. Often, when he borrowed 
a volume that had to be returned the next day, he 
would sit up half of the night to read it. Some- 
times he wrote little ballads which he offered for 
sale on the streets. 

When Benjamin was fourteen years of age his 
brother started a newspaper. By this time the boy 
had become as good a printer as there was in Boston. 
He had read the best books that he could find, and had 
practiced during his leisure moments the writing of 
prose and poetry. He now began to write articles, 
which he would slip under the door of his brother's 
office at night. James had no idea who wrote the 
articles, but he considered that they were good 
enough to print. When Benjamin saw his composi- 
tions in the newspaper, his joy knew no bounds. 



2 14 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

But the two brothers did not get on well together, 
and Benjamin felt that James treated him harshly. 
When he was seventeen years of age he resolved to 
run away from Boston, and make his own way in the 
world. 

He raised a little money by selling a few of his 
precious books, and one fine autumn day in 1723 he 




Benjamin Franklin, Apprentice 
After a bronze tablet on the pedestal of the statue by Greenough. 

sailed away on a sloop bound for New York. Here 
he tried to get work as a printer, but finding none 
started for Philadelphia. He went first by boat from 
New York to Amboy, New Jersey. While this was 
but a short distance, the boat was out thirty hours 
owing to a heavy storm, and during that time the 
boy had neither food nor drink. As he had very little 
money, he covered on foot the next fifty miles of his 
journey through New Jersey. Part of the distance 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 215 

he walked in a downpour of rain, so that he reached 
BurHngton bedraggled, tired, and hungry. From 
Burlington he proceeded to Philadelphia by boat. 

At length he reached the Quaker city, on a cold 
Sunday morning, travel-stained, half famished, a 
stranger in the town, and with only a dollar in his 
pocket. His first act was to buy three "great puffy 
rolls." Then he started up Market Street with a 
roll under each arm, eating the third. 

Wandering along in this way, he passed the 
house of a Mr. Read, whose daughter, Deborah, 
stood in the door looking with amusement at the 
lad's appearance. He was dressed in buckskin 
knee breeches, and the pockets of his long coat 
bulged with his extra shirts and stockings. Curi- 
ously enough, this fair girl, who laughed at the 
ridiculous appearance of the tired boy, was the one 
whom Franklin afterward married. 

A kind Quaker aided the young Boston printer 
to get work. His employers found that he had a 
man's judgment and sound sense, as well as unusual 
ability in his trade, and they helped him forward as 
fast as possible. 

He soon attracted the notice of the governor of 
Pennsylvania, Sir William Keith, who encouraged 
him to go to London, buy a press and type, and set 
up in business for himself in Philadelphia. Keith 
promised the young man that he would write letters 
to people in London who would help him. Franklin 



2i6 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

did not know that the English governor was more 
ready to make promises than to keep them, so with 
a hght heart he set off for England. But, when he 
reached London, he found that the letters that he 
had counted upon for help had never been sent. 

The American youth had very little money, but 
he had what was far better, a brave spirit and a 



Num. ioS. 




The AMERICAN 
WE EKLY MERCURY. 

From Thurfday OStobei^ »>to Thurfday Odoberq^ ij^. 

Reduced Facsimile of the Heading of an Early Issue of the First 
Newspaper in Philadelphia 

determination to succeed under all circumstances. 
He soon found work in a London printing office, 
and immediately began to save money and to study 
during, his spare hours. In less than two years he 
was back in Philadelphia to start a press of his own. 
Soon afterward he began to publish a newspaper, 
the Pennsylvania Gazette, 

At the age of twenty-six he married Miss Debo- 
rah Read. At first their home was very simple. 
Long years afterward, when Franklin had dined 
with kings and queens and the greatest men and 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 217 

women of England and France, when his name was 
known all over Europe and people were proud to 
speak with him, he wrote the story of his life. In 
this book he says of his early married years : " Our 
breakfast was for a long time bread and milk (no 
tea) and I ate it out of a twopenny earthen por- 
ringer, with a pewter spoon." Nor was he too 
proud to carry paper to his shop in a wheelbarrow. 

One of the first things that made Franklin 
famous was his " Almanac." In those days, next 
to the Bible, the Almanac was the book most read 
in American households. Franklin thought he 
could help a large number of persons by publish- 
ing useful information, not generally known, and 
by giving good advice. So he started " Poor Rich- 
ard's Almanac," which was gratefully received and 
carefully read in hundreds of homes here and in 
England. These are some of the wise proverbs of 
"Poor Richard": — 

^^ Lost ti7ne is never fou7id agairir 
''''Beware of little expenses ; a small leak will sink 
a great skipT 

^' Rather go to bed supper less than rise hi debtT 
''A word to the wise is enotigh!' 

In the course of years Benjamin Franklin became 
not only a very prosperous man, but a man looked 
up to by all the people of Philadelphia as one of 
their ablest citizens. He took deep interest in all 



21 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



public affairs. He founded the first library in Phila- 
delphia, which was really the beginning of our 
present library system. And he laid the founda- 
tion for a high school which grew into a college and 
is now the great University of Pennsylvania. 

All the time that he was carrying on his news- 
paper work he did much good, made hosts of 










Franklin and the Lightning 
After a bronze tablet on the pedestal of the statue by Greenough. 

friends, and found opportunity for study. He 
learned several languages, and spent hours in 
reading books on science, and in making experi- 
ments. His first important invention was the 
Franklin stove. Up to that time open fireplaces 
had been the only method of heating. 

When Franklin was forty-six years old he made 
one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 
eighteenth century. By a simple experiment with 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 219 

a kite in 1752 he showed that lightning is elec- 
tricity. His kite was covered with a silk hand- 
kerchief, and to the stick was attached a pointed 
wire. The string was of hemp and at the end which 
he held was placed an iron key. One day, during a 
thunderstorm, he and his son took the kite to the 
fields. Soon Franklin discovered that electricity 
was coming down the string, for the little fibers of 
thread stood out stifily ; and when he placed his 
knuckles near the key he felt a shock. This led 
to his invention of the lightning rod, now in com- 
mon use. 

From this time on Franklin's name was known 
all over America and Europe. In 1753 the king 
appointed him postmaster-general of all the Ameri- 
can colonies, and, as we shall see, he did some of his 
most important work after he had passed his fiftieth 
year. 

About this time the English colonists began to 
see that there was likely to be war with the French, 
who had come down from Canada and were taking 
possession of much of the territory that the English 
claimed. Something had to be done, and accord- 
ingly, in 1 754, representatives from the different colo- 
nies met in a congress held at Albany, New York. 

Franklin's newspaper immediately came out with 
the motto, " Join or Die," and, when he went to 
Albany as the representative of Pennsylvania, he 
carried with him a plan to unite all the colonies 




2 20 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

under one government. But the young settlers 
were not yet ready for this union, for they had not 
begun to think of themselves as Americans. It 
was customary for a man to speak of himself as a 
New Yorker, or a Virginian, as the case might be, 
but he was quite certain not to call himself an 

American. The colonists, 
therefore, did not see the 
wisdom of Franklin's scheme 
and rejected it. However, 
twenty years later it was 
regarded as the only means 

Device printed in Franklin's of preserving in the NcW 
"Pennsylvania Gazette."! 754 World the freedom which 

the colonists had sought in their flight from the 
mother country. Franklin's " Albany Plan " was 
in the end a stepping-stone to the founding of the 
American nation. 

Franklin's life is so interwoven with important 
events in American history that there is not room 
here to tell them all. Two years after the congress 
met at Albany he was sent to England to present 
to the king a protest from the Pennsylvanians; for 
the descendants of William Penn were not manag- 
ing the colony in a way that satisfied the settlers. 
He was successful in obtaining the rights which the 
Pennsylvanians asked for, and for more than five 
years matters of great importance to the American 
colonists kept Franklin in England. His discover- 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 221 

ies in electricity had made people eager to meet him, 
and he was everywhere received with enthusiasm. 

Later, when England threatened to tax the 
American colonies for more than they considered 
just and right, Franklin was again sent to London 
to present the American side of the case to King 
George IIL This monarch is said to have warned 
his court that Franklin was more than a match for 
them all. With untiring patience and wise fore- 
sight, Franklin tried to show the king that his tax 
was " the mother of mischief." If George III had 
listened to the counsel of Benjamin Franklin, the 
destructive war between England and America 
might have been avoided. 

Franklin reached London in 1764 and remained 
there for eleven years. Throughout that time he 
was nobly engaged in assisting his countrymen in 
various ways. At length, when he found that it was 
no longer possible to avoid war, he returned home. 
But before his arrival the first blood had been shed. 

Franklin now gave his best efforts to helping his 
fellow -sufferers in their brave resistance to oppres- 
sion. The very day after he reached home he was 
chosen a member of the celebrated Continental 
Congress, which met at Philadelphia in 1774. Of 
this we shall learn more in later chapters, when we 
study the lives of other famous men. Franklin was 
also one of the men who were chosen to draw up 
the great Declaration of Independence in 1776. 



222 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



In rebelling against England, and in declaring 
that they would rather fight than submit to unjust 
laws and taxation, the Americans had set for them- 
selves a difficult task Here was a handful of poor 
colonies going to war with the powerful English 




Franklin and the Committee presenting the Declaration of In- 
dependence TO THE President of Congress 
After a bronze tablet on the pedestal of the statue by Greenough. 

nation. Money and arms were needed, and Frank- 
lin was chosen as the one man among all the Amer- 
icans who could obtain the necessary aid. He was 
sent to France to secure her assistance. 

The French people received him with every honor, 
and during his stay in Paris the wisest statesmen, as 
well as persons of wealth and fashion, treated him 
with great respect. Even shopkeepers would rush 
to their doors to get a glimpse of 
Franklin." 



the great Doctor 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 223 

He was most successful in the mission he had un- 
dertaken. The French government in 1778 signed 
a treaty which recognized the American colonies as 
a nation, the United States, and France agreed to 
furnish arms, ammunition, and money to help this 
new nation fight England. 

When the long war was over, and representatives 
from England and America met in Paris in 1783 to 
sign a treaty of peace, Franklin's sound judgment 
was eagerly sought. Later, when he learned that 
he had been chosen special ambassador to France, 
he said : " I am old and good for nothing, but, as 
the storekeepers say of their remnants of cloth, ' I 
am but a fag end, and you may have me for what 
you please.' " 

In 1789 the people of each state sent a number of 
their ablest men to Philadelphia to make laws for 
the nation just born. Benjamin Franklin was among 
the number who framed the Constitution of the 
United States, under which we now live. 

He was seventy-eight years old when he returned 
from his last European sojourn, and his name was 
venerated in England and France as well as in 
America. Everybody spoke of him as one of the 
greatest Americans, one of the founders of the 
American republic, and its most distinguished scien- 
tist and diplomat. 

After a long, busy, useful life, Benjamin Franklin 
died in Philadelphia in 1790, at the age of eighty- 



2 24 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

four. Twenty thousand persons attended his fu- 
neral. He was laid to rest beside his wife and 
daughter in the burying ground of Christ's Church. 
The plain marble stone bears the simple words, 
" Benjamin and Deborah Franklin." 

Things to Remember 

Benjamin Franklin was the first American to make important 
discoveries in science. 

He was also famous as a diplomat, a statesman, and a writer. 

He was the first to propose a union of the thirteen American 
colonies under one government. 

In 1764 he was sent to the court of King George III to urge 
just taxation of the colonies. 

Through his influence aid was procured from France in 1778 to 
help the colonists free themselves from England. 

He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence 
and one of the men who framed the Constitution of the United 
States. 

Map Work. — Trace Franklin's first journey from Boston to 
Philadelphia. 



I 



XX. LOUIS MONTCALM 

Born 1712 — Died 1759 

Yea, happy they who serve our France, 

And neither pain nor danger fly ; 
But in the front of war's advance 
Still deem it but a glorious chance, 

To be among the brave who die. 

— Deroulede's "Good Fighting." 

In the government gardens of the beautiful city 
of Quebec there stands a tall monument to two 
heroes, a Frenchman and an Englishman. Both 
were brave, noble men, and each died trying to 
secure Canada for his own nation. 

The older of the two was Louis Montcalm. He 
was born in a pleasant old chateau in France, was 
carefully educated, and at an early age entered the 
army. When thirty years old he became colonel 
of a regiment, fought for his country in Italy and 
Germany, and won great distinction. He loved 
books and the quiet of country life, but he loved 
France better; and his high sense of duty and 
honor kept him throughout his life a soldier. How 
did it happen that he found a soldier's grave in 
America ? 

We have learned that the brave La Salle had 
tried to build a chain of forts from Canada to the 
Gulf of Mexico, along the Great Lakes and the 

225 



226 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Mississippi River. We know that, as the years 
went by after his death, his countrymen gradually 
erected outposts, and claimed all the land in the 
Mississippi valley for the French. 

Now the English, who had established colonies 
along the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico, 

were creeping farther and 
farther west. " Somethinor 

o 

must be done," said they, 
" to stop the French from 
building forts. They are 
blocking our passage 
across the Alleghany 
Mountains." 

Accordingly, in 1750, 
a company was organized 
in Virginia known as the 
Ohio Company, to explore 
and settle the lands on 
the east bank of the Ohio River. As a first step 
they sent a party of surveyors to measure and 
mark out the territory. 

When the French heard of this, they immediately 
began to build another fort on the Alleghany River. 
This river unites with the Monongahela to form the 
Ohio, and the French considered the junction of the 
two rivers one of the most important gateways to 
the Great West. 

As soon as Governor Dinwiddle of Virginia 




Louis Montcalm 



I 



LOUIS MONTCALM 



227 



learned what the French were doing, he decided 
that the time had come to settle the matter once 
for all. " We will order them to stop work," said 
he. A young surveyor was chosen to be the bearer of 
this important order. It 
was George Washington, 
then only a little more 
than twenty years of age. 

Washino:ton found a 
difficult and dangerous 
journey before him. The 
country was full of hostile 
Indians ; there were no 
roads or bridges, and 
deep snow covered the 
trails. But he was al- 
ways fearless in the dis- 
charge of his duty, and 
he boldly set out with 
six companions and an 
Indian guide. * 

At last, after many exciting adventures and hard- 
ships, the journey was completed in safety, and 
the messenger was kindly received by the French. 
But, naturally enough, they refused to stop build- 
ing their fort. " You may tell Governor Din- 
widdle," said the French commander, "that France 
owns this country, and we intend to go on with 
our work." 




Washington as a Young Man 

In the uniform of a Virginia colonel. 
After the painting by Peale. 



228 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



There was now nothing left for the English to do 
but to build forts of their own faster than the French, 
and in this way to take possession of the country. 
A body of men was sent to begin work on a spot 
which Washington had selected, the site of the 
present city of Pittsburg. But the French, who 
were in that country in far larger numbers than the 




Fort Duquesne 

English had supposed, drove the latter away, and 
finished the stronghold for themselves. This they 
named Fort Duquesne, in honor of the Canadian 
governor. 

The French, however, did not win this victory 
without bloodshed. Washington, as leader of the 
party, made an attack at a place called Great 
Meadows, and many of the French were killed 
and others carried away prisoners. 

In great haste Washington now began to build a 



I 



LOUIS MONTCALM 



229 



shelter, which he called Fort Necessity ; for he well 
knew that the French would next attack him. 
He fought bravely with his little body of men, but 
he could not long withstand the superior force of 
the enemy, and he was obliged to surrender. 

The English were now thoroughly aroused and 
determined to drive out the French and to force 
a passage through the Alle- 
ghanies to the land farther 
west. It must be remembered 
that the English claimed the 
entire country as far west as 
the Pacific Ocean. For had 
not Sir Francis Drake sailed 
along the coast of California, 
planted the English flag, and 
taken possession of that whole 
western territory in the name 
of the English ruler ? 

Accordingly, General Brad- 
dock, an old, experienced - 
soldier, was sent over to 
America in the summer of 
1755 to lead the colonists in their fight against the 
French. With him came red-coated regiments of 
the regular army. " Now," thought the delighted 
colonists, " we shall soon see the Frenchmen fleeing 
to Canada." 

There was no disputing the fact that General 




British Soldier 



230 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Braddock knew a very great deal about fighting in 
the regular way, against armies in the open field ; 
but it is equally certain that he knew nothing what- 
ever about fighting in a forest against the Indians 
who were helping the French. The Five 
Nations still cherished their hatred of the 
French, and took revenge by siding with 
the English. This last con- 
flict between the French and 
English in America is known 
as the French and Indian 
War. 

Young George Washing- 
ton, who was one of Brad- 
dock's aides, gave the Eng- 
lish general some sound ad- 
vice about the best method 
of fighting Indians, and 
warned him to proceed quietly 
and with caution. But Brad- 
dock replied that, while the 
Indians were no doubt more 
than a match for the colo- 
nists, they certainly could make no impression upon 
the king's regulars. It was, therefore, with flying 
banners and loud music that General Braddock 
marched his soldiers toward the French posts. 

Alas, when too late, Braddock found that the 
young Virginia major was right. Out of deep 




French Soldier 



LOUIS MONTCALM 231 

ravines, and from behind trees, shrubs, and thickets, 
the Indians attacked his regiments, and the bewil- 
dered EngHsh soldiers, so willing to fight, could not 
even see the enemy. For three long, terrible hours 
the French and Indians kept up their fire. At the 
end of that time hundreds of Englishmen lay dead, 
and the rest were fleeing for their lives. 

All of Braddock's ofiicers except Washington 
were killed or wounded. Washington had two 
horses shot under him, and four balls passed through 
his coat, but happily he was to be saved for greater 
undertakings. At last General Braddock received 
a mortal wound, and at midnight, by the light of 
the torch, Washington read the burial service over 
the grave of the commander. Then the young 
major sadly led the defeated English redcoats back 
over the mountains to Virginia. 

It was now high time for France to show some 
interest in her struggling Canadian colonies, and in 
1756 a body of French troops was sent to America. 
With them, in command of the French army, sailed 
the brave, daring Louis Montcalm. Fresh from the 
scene of battle had he come, for at home, also, Eng- 
land and France were fighting each other, and each 
was determined to conquer in America as wxU as in 
Europe. 

Montcalm's first victory, at Oswego, New York, 
was a brilliant one, and a hard blow to the English ; 
for it gave the French control of Lake Ontario. 



232 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

His next move caused the enemy still greater alarm. 
In the summer, with eight thousand French and 




Braddock surprised by an Ambuscade 

Indians, Montcalm crossed Lake George and cap- 
tured Fort William Henry, which the English, under 
the wise leadership of Sir William Johnson, had J 



LOUIS MONTCALM 2^^ 

built at the head of the lake to guard the northern 
waters of the Hudson River. 

The dreadful massacre that followed this victory 
showed how little the Indians could be trusted when 
once their thirst for blood was kindled. The Eng- 
lish had surrendered the fort to the French, who, 
though holding them as prisoners, had promised to 
protect their lives. This did not satisfy the savages. 
In spite of all that Montcalm could do to prevent it, 
even to the risking of his own life, the redskins fell 
upon the defenceless English and murdered a large 
number of men, women, and children. 

But now came England's turn to win, and Fort 
Niagara, the strong, important post between Lake 
Erie and Lake Ontario, fell into her hands. " Now," 
said the victorious English, " we have one of the 
keys that unlock the passage to the rich fur trade 
of the West. We have only to capture Fort Du- 
quesne and the control of the Mississippi valley is 
in our hands." 

First, however, the English resolved to attack 
Fort Ticonderoga, where Champlain had won his 
victory over the Iroquois one hundred and fifty 
years before. An army of fifteen thousand English 
and colonial troops was sent to capture the fort. 
Montcalm had only four thousand men to defend it, 
but he secured a commanding position on a neck 
of land, with clumps of trees for protection. The 
battle lasted from noon until night, when the Eng- 



234 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



lish were obliged to abandon the attack. This was 
the last great victory won by the French in America. 

Fort Edward, Ti- 
conderoga, and Crown 
Point on Lake Cham- 
plain fell, one after 
the other, into the 
hands of the English. 
Step by step the 
French were driven 
back toward Canada. 
The brave Montcalm 





Map showing French and English Forts 

was fighting under terrible difficulty. The French 
government was so taken up with its wars at home 
that the struggling colonies in Canada were left to 
take care of themselves as best they could. 



I 



LOUIS MONTCALM 235 

In the summer of 1758, the English captured 
Louisburor " the Gibraltar of America." This was 
one of the Frenchmen's strongest forts, and one of 
the most important ; for it stood on Cape Breton 
Island at the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
It covered a large plot of ground, and its thick walls 
were over thirty feet high. Once in possession of 
this, the English controlled the St. Lawrence River, 
and could prevent the French in Canada from re- 
ceiving help by this waterway. 

In November Fort Duquesne also fell into the 
hands of the English. This was renamed Fort Pitt, 
in honor of William Pitt, a great English statesman 
of whom we shall soon learn. Later the French 
lost Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario. 

All through the year 1759 the fighting continued. 
The great, decisive battle came on the morning of 
the 13th of September, when the English captured 
Quebec. For weeks Montcalm had known that 
the English were planning to attack this strong- 
hold, and with every means in his power he 
strengthened his defenses. He was expecting the 
attack to come from the English ships below in the 
river. In the next chapter, however, we shall learn 
how the English commander. General Wolfe, with 
several thousand men climbed the steep heights 
that led to the town and joined battle with the French 
on a level spot known as the Plains of Abraham. 

Words cannot describe the astonishment of the 



236 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

French when at daybreak they saw the English 
soldiers lined up for battle. Was it possible that 
these were the men whom Montcalm had believed 
to be on the ships in the river, or encamped along 
the shore, far below ! 

The situation was indeed a desperate one for the 
French, but Louis Montcalm never flinched in times 
of danger. " This is serious business," he said 
calmly, and immediately gave his orders. Officers 
spurred their horses forward, now in one direction, 
now in another, and among the troops there was the 
greatest activity. By ten o'clock Montcalm had 
rallied his forces, and amid shouting and firing the 
French army rushed upon their foe. Silently the 
English waited until the enemy were near ; then the 
redcoats pushed forward with such terrific force that 
the French were obliged to fall back. 

Montcalm, mounted on his spirited horse, galloped 
back and forth among his distracted troops, trying 
in vain to spur them to fresh attack. But they had 
given up all hope of victory and were running for 
their lives. 

As Montcalm was swept along by the wild rush, 
a bullet entered his body and fatally wounded him. 
Tenderly supporting their gallant commander, 
the soldiers led his horse back to the town he 
had so bravely tried to save for France. A little 
group of frightened women stood huddled together 
near the city gate. " Look," cried one of them, " the 



LOUIS MONTCALM 237 

Marquis is killed ! " But, with heroic effort, Mont- 
calm replied : " It is nothing; do not trouble for me, 
good friends." The next morning he died. When 
told that the end was near, he said : " It is better so. 
I am happy that I shall not live to see the surrender 
of Quebec." 




IjWik,/' 



Quebec in the Eighteenth Century 

His dying thought was for the men of his army. 
His last words to one of his generals were : " The 
humanity of the English sets my mind at peace con- 
cerning the fate of the French prisoners and the 
Canadians. Feel towards them as they have caused 
me to feel. Do not let them perceive that they have 
changed masters. Be their protector as I have been 
their father." 

The confusion and distress in Quebec were so 



238 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

great that no coffin could be found for the dead 
commander, and an old servant of the Ursuline con- 
vent made one as best he could out of a few rough 
boards. In this rude box Montcalm was that night 
laid to rest under the floor of the convent. There 
were no cannon to fire a volley over the grave of the 
brave soldier, but the army that had loved and 
trusted him, and the enemy that had defeated him, 
respected his memory and honored his name. 

" The funeral of Montcalm was the funeral of 
New France." Not long after the fall of Quebec 
the whole of Canada was surrendered to the English. 
Not French, but English, was to be the language 
spoken on the vast continent of America. 

Things to Remember 

The last great struggle between the French and English in 
America is known as the French and Indian War. 

In 1755 England sent out an army under General Braddock to 
help her colonists. Braddock was killed, and his army defeated 
by the French. 

General Montcalm, a brave French soldier, was sent with a body 
of French troops, in 1756, to command the army against the Eng- 
Hsh. 

Quebec, the main stronghold of the French, was captured by 
the English in 1759. In this battle Montcalm was killed. 

After the fall of Quebec, the Canadian possessions in America 
fell into the hands of the English. 

Map Work. — Locate on an outline map the line of French 
forts from Louisburg to Duquesne. Locate the Enghsh forts, 
Oswego, William Henry, and Edward. 



XXI. JAMES WOLFE 

Born 1726 — Died 1759 

" Now tell us what 'twas all about," 

Young Peterkin he cries ; 
And little Wilhelmine looks up 

With wonder-waiting eyes ; 
" Now tell us all about the war, 

And what they fought each other for." 

" It was the English," Kaspar said, 

" Who put the French to rout ; 
But what they fought each other for 

I could not well make out. 
But everybody said," quoth he, 

"That 'twas a famous victory." 

— Southey's "After Blenheim.'' 

The French and Indian War in America was 
only a small part of the great struggle between 
France and England. At the same time the bitter 
conflict known as the Seven Years' War was raging 
in Europe. At length England's interests, both at 
home and abroad, were intrusted to William Pitt. 

" I am sure I can save this country," said Pitt, 
when he took charge of affairs, and time proved 
that this was no idle boast. It was the energy and 
daring of this great man that ended the wearisome 
years of fighting between France and England. It 

239 



240 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



was the power and eloquence of William Pitt that 
aroused England to hold all the land she had in 
America, and to get as much more as possible. 
" We must continue to send ships, soldiers, arms, 
and ammunition to protect our colonies in America," 

urged the great statesman, 
over and over again. 

Among the officers who 
were sent on this mission 
was young James Wolfe. 
His father had served with 
distinction in the English 
army, and his mother was 
a sweet, gentle lady, to 
whom Wolfe was always 
devoted. When grown to 
manhood, he once wrote 
her from a distant country, 
where he was gallantly fighting for England : " The 
greatest happiness that I wish for is to see you 
happy." 

Even in boyhood Wolfe showed evidence of 
marked military ability, and was allowed to serve as 
adjutant of a regiment at the age of sixteen. In 
spite of frail health he rose rapidly to the post of 
major general, and was only thirty-two years old 
when he came to America. He was tall, slender, 
with reddish hair and bright, fearless eyes. He had 
the faculty of winning the loyal devotion of his sol- 





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James Wolfe 



JAMES WOLFE 241 

diers. There was no danger that they would not will- 
ingly face at the suggestion of their beloved leader. 

As for himself, he was absolutely without fear. 
He wrote to his mother, " My utmost desire and 
ambition is to look steadily upon danger ; " and to 
his uncle, " If I have health and constitution enough 
for the campaign, I shall think myself a lucky man ; 
what happens afterwards is of no great consequence." 

In the capture of the stronghold of Louisburg, 
Wolfe had assisted General Amherst and had shown 
great courage and skill. When the report of 
his brilliant conduct reached Pitt, it was decided 
that Wolfe should be placed in command of an ex- 
pedition against Quebec. Many of the older officers 
opposed the idea of conferring such honor upon a 
young man of thirty-three, and some one told 
George II that Pitt's new general out in America 
was mad. The old king is said to have retorted: 
"Mad, is he? Then I hope he will bite some others 
of my generals." 

No one knew better than young General Wolfe 
the difficulties and dangers of the undertaking that 
had been assigned him. A great responsibility 
rested upon his shoulders. Could he capture 
Quebec ? If so, the war would probably be ended. 

He at once ordered his ships to sail out of the 
harbor of Louisburg and up the St. Lawrence nearly 
as far as Quebec. Then he encamped his soldiers 
on the opposite bank and waited for reinforcements. 



242 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Before him, on a hill more than three hundred feet 
above the river, lay the most strongly fortified city 
on the American continent. All along its walls guns 
were placed for defense, and Wolfe felt that it would 




The Siege of Quebec 

be almost impossible for him to force an entrance. 
He knew also that Montcalm was collecting a large 
army to oppose him. 

One day he made a happy discovery. With the 
aid of a powerful field glass he saw a steep, narrow 
path winding along the side of the cliff to the heights, 



JAMES WOLFE 243 

about two miles from Quebec. If only his men 
could get up this rocky pathway ! 

After thinking the matter over carefully, Wolfe 
decided to make the hazardous attempt. The long 
hours of one whole day and night he spent in care- 
ful preparation. Finally all was ready. At one 
o'clock on the morning of September 13, 1759, his 
soldiers stepped quietly into small boats, and silently 
rowed to the landing-place selected by their com- 
mander. 

Like many another brave warrior, Wolfe loved 
peace and quiet and many things that his busy 
life of fighting left him little time to enjoy. He 
liked nothing better than to spend an hour with 
books, and especially books of poetry. 

As he was borne along the stream, in the still 
autumn night, the generals thoughts were naturally 
of serious matters. " The coming day," thought he, 
" will probably decide whether Canada shall belong 
to England or to her rival, France. Before another 
dawn, hundreds of men will have sacrificed their 
lives for their country." He is said to have re- 
peated Gray's beautiful poem, " An Elegy Written 
in a Country Churchyard," and to have dwelt par- 
ticularly on the following lines : 

" The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
Await alike the inevitable hour, 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 



244 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

With as much calmness as if he were beginning 
a pleasant journey instead of facing a desperate 
battle, Wolfe remarked : " I would rather have been 
the author of that poem than take Quebec." 

Before dawn the English redcoats made their 
landing, and, guns in hand, stealthily climbed the 
steep, rocky wall on the north shore of the river 
that led to the Plains of Abraham. It was a long 
hard climb, up an almost perpendicular cliff, with 
only here and there a bush or tree to hold to. But 
by sunrise the entire army had completed the ascent. 

Suddenly the sharp challenge of a French sentry 
rang through the air. One or two questions were 
asked, to which reply was given by an English 
officer who spoke perfect French. It was still dark. 
The sentry was on the lookout for French boats 
bringing provisions, and thought that the English 
were his own countrymen. He therefore allowed 
them to proceed, and Wolfe's men charged upon 
the tents sheltering soldiers whom Montcalm had 
stationed to watch this very path. They had 
failed to do their duty, and now those who were not 
caught by the English fled in terror. 

We have already learned how surprised was the 
French army when, in the early morning light, they 
saw the red uniforms of the British soldiers and the 
glitter of their muskets. We know that the brave 
Montcalm did not falter, but that his troops were 
soon forced to fall back in confusion. 



JAMES WOLFE 



245 



Wolfe now shouted to his men to press to the 
front, while from hundreds of throats came the 
British cheer. He was still leading the charge, and 




Before the French and Indian War 

cheering his men on in the victorious attack, when 
three bullet wounds brought him to the ground. 
As he was tenderly supported by his officers, he 
heard shouts of "They run! They run!" "Who 
run ? " quickly asked the dying general. " The 



246 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



enemy, sir," was the reply. " Now God be praised," 
said General Wolfe, " I shall die in peace." 

With sincere affection and grief, his comrades 
placed his body on a ship, which bore it to Eng- 




After the French and Indian War 

land. A monument to Wolfe's memory now stands 
in that grand old church, Westminster Abbey. 

Great was the joy in England when word was re- 
ceived that the French possessions in America had 



JAMES WOLFE 247 

passed into English hands. Thousands of bonfires 
all over the country were kindled in celebration. 
" In one spot alone all was dark and silent. A wid- 
owed mother mourned for a loving and devoted son, 
and the people forbore to profane her grief with the 
clamor of their rejoicings." 

Naturally enough, the rejoicing among the colo- 
nists in America was greater even than that in 
England. With the fall of Quebec, French power 
in America was broken, and the English became 
masters of the greater portion of the continent. 
France surrendered all the land she had claimed 
east of the Mississippi, together with the whole 
of Canada. The English came into possession of 
Florida also; for, in the Seven Years' War, Eng- 
land had taken from Spain Cuba and the Philippine 
Islands, and later exchanged them for Florida. 

If you look on the map at the strip of land ly- 
ing between the Mississippi River and the Rocky 
Mountains, you will see the portion of the country 
that Eno^land could not claim. Before the war 
ended France had given this territory, together 
witl\ the town of New Orleans, to Spain in pay- 
ment for her aid. 

Now that the American colonists had nothing 
further to fear from the French, all things seemed 
possible, and an idea of the future greatness of 
America began to fill their minds. A Boston 
clergyman said: "With the continued blessing of 



248 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

heaven the colonies will become, in another century 
or two, a mighty empire." 

The colonies had learned a great lesson ; they had 
found how much could be accomplished by joining 
forces against a common enemy; they saw the 
wisdom of Benjamin Frankhn's motto, "Join or 
Die." 

With Wolfe's triumph on the Plains of Abraham, 
the history of the separate colonies in America 
draws to an end, and the history of the United 
States begins. 

Things to Remember 

William Pitt was a great English statesman who helped the 
American colonists defeat the French. 

In 1759 Pitt chose James Wolfe, a brave young English officer, 
to lead the attack on Quebec, the most important stronghold of 
the French. 

Wolfe led the English and colonial troops to victory, but lost 
his life in the battle on the Plains of Abraham. 

After the fall of Quebec, France surrendered all of Canada to 
England, together with the whole country between the Mississippi 
River and the Alleghany Mountains. 

France had already given to Spain the country between the 
Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. 

Spain gave Florida to England in exchange for Cuba and the 
Philippine Islands. 



I 



XXII. PATRICK HENRY 

Born 1736 — Died 1799 

Freedom ! sweet Freedom ! our voices resound, 
Queen by God's blessing, unsceptered, uncrowned ! 
Freedom, sweet Freedom, our pulses repeat, 
Warm with her life-blood, as long as they beat ! 

— Holmes's "Freedom, our Queen." 

Had you chanced to walk many years ago in the 
streets of a certain httle Virginia town, you might 
have met a tall man, carelessly dressed, with a 
slouchinor aait and an air of indifference. Such 
was the general appearance of Patrick Henry. But 
if you had seen this same man an hour later in the 
court room, you would have scarcely believed your 
eyes. In the heat of an exciting debate Patrick 
Henry's lank form would straighten ; his calm face 
become intense ; his eyes flash fire ; while the magic 
of his words held his hearers spellbound. After 
his first important speech, a listener said : " He 
made our blood run cold and our hair stand on 
end." Such was the power of this great orator who 
helped to bring about the founding of the Ameri- 
can nation. Let us see how it happened. 

249 



250 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



When Patrick Henry was a young man, the 
United States as a nation did not exist. There was 
no central government — no President, no United 
States Congress. The street bands did not play the 
"Star-Spangled Banner," for there was no Ameri- 
can flag. Instead, the people listened to " God save 
the King," for the colonists in America looked 






Stamps used in 1765 

upon England as their mother country, and regarded 
her king as their ruler. 

In the year 1765 a bill called the Stamp Act was 
passed by the English Parliament. Parliament 
makes England's laws just as Congress at Wash- 
ington makes our own. By this act the colonists 
were obliged to put a stamp, from a half -penny to 
ten pounds in value, on paper used for newspapers, 
or for legal purposes, such as wills, deeds, and 
notes. 

In this way King George III proposed to raise 
money to keep a small English army in America, 
for he felt that such a body of troops was needed 



PATRICK HENRY 



251 



to defend the settlers. " It is, therefore, only fair," 
said the king, " that the colonists should support 
this army." 

Now in America it was believed that people 
should not be taxed except by their own representa- 
tives. For hundreds of years their forefathers in 
Ens^land had stood for 
this great principle. 
Each colony had its 
legislature, elected by 
the people, and if it 
chose to levy a tax, well 
and good. But since 
the colonists were al- 
lowed no voice in the 
English government, it 
seemed to them very 
unjust that Parliament 
should decide the taxes 

that they must pay. Prominent men, such as Ben- 
jamin Franklin, were sent to England to protest that 
"taxation without representation" was tyranny. 
From Maine to Georgia people were aroused over 
the Stamp Act. Furthermore, the colonists did 
not want British soldiers in America. They said 
that they were able to protect themselves, now that 
the trouble with the French was ended. 

The king did not pay any attention to the protest 
of the colonists. The leaders among the Ameri- 




Patrick Henry 



252 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

cans, therefore, urged their friends and neighbors 
to refuse to pay the tax, and Patrick Henry was 
one of the foremost of these leaders. 

Besides being one of America's greatest orators, 
Henry was an able lawyer, a wise statesman, and a 
true-hearted, lovable man. He was born at Stud- 
ley, Virginia. His father was a well-educated 
Scotchman, and his mother an English woman with 
ready wit and a great fondness for music. 

When Patrick was taken from the village school, 
at the age of ten, his father and uncle became his 
teachers. He studied mathematics, Latin, and 
Greek, and when fifteen years old was apprenticed 
to a country shopkeeper. A year later his father 
started Patrick and a brother not much older in 
business for themselves. 

Would you think it strange if boys of that age 
did not succeed ? As might have been expected, 
the venture failed, but Patrick did not lose heart. 
He kept up his interest in study, and read many of 
his books over and over again. He liked best geog- 
raphy and history. He loved out-of-door pastimes, 
hunting, fishing, and roaming through woods and 
fields. His friends thought him an idle, dreamy 
youth, jovial and fond of frolic ; but no one foresaw 
that he was destined to play an important part in 
American history. 

When eighteen Patrick Henry married, and after 
a few years spent in trying to make a living at farm- 



I 



PATRICK HENRY 



253 



ing, and again at store keeping, he decided to study 
law. At last he had found the right work. After 
a few months of study, he was admitted to the bar, 
and his fine mind, good judgment, and remarkable 
gift of speech soon won him fame and fortune. 

His first celebrated case was known as the " Par- 



was to secure 



larger 



son's Cause." Its object 
salaries for clergymen. 
Nothing like Henry's elo- 
quence in arguing this case 
ever had been heard in the 
colony. A few moments 
after he began to speak his 
listeners were leaning for- 
ward in breathless silence. 
The young lawyer's father 
was so amazed and de- 
lighted by his mastery of 
words that " tears of ecstasy 
streamed down his cheeks." 
When the trial came to a 
Patrick Henry on their shoulders out of the court- 
house, and carried him around the yard in triumph. 
But Henry's name was to become known far 
beyond the borders of Virginia. In 1765 he was 
elected to the House of Burgesses. On his 
twenty-ninth birthday, only a few days after tak- 
ing his seat in the House, a debate arose over 
the stamp tax. Henry sprang to his feet, and in a 




King George III 
After the painting by Zoffani. 

close, the people bore 



254 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

ringing oration declared that no power outside the 
colony itself had any right to impose a tax on its 
people. He offered a series of resolutions condemn- 
ing the Stamp Act as dangerous to liberty. Thomas 
Jefferson, then a young man, was present. Long 
years afterward he said : " That speech of Patrick 
Henry's excelled anything I have ever heard." 

That was a lively day in the House of Burgesses. 
Among the members were many Tories, that is, per- 
sons so loyal to the king that they believed America 
should submit to whatever he thouQ^ht best. You 
can imagine the excitement when young Patrick 
Henry, ending his great address, exclaimed : " Cae- 
sar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, 
and George the Third" — he was stopped by cries 
from the king's friends of "Treason! Treason!" 
But the orator was not to be frightened. When the 
cries ceased, he finished with great earnestness- — 
" and George the Third may profit by their example. 
If this be treason, make the most of it." 

In the audience were many persons who thought 
that Patrick Henry would surely be hanged for his 
bold words against the king. But to commit an act 
of treason was far from Henry's intention. Simple 
^ justice was all that he demanded of George III. He 
little dreamed that he had made a speech that would 
stir all the colonies and live in history. 

His resolutions passed the House in the face of 
great opposition, and were soon printed and scattered 



256 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

broadcast through the colonies. They helped to 
strengthen the other colonies in their determina- 
tion to resist the stamp tax. 

When the heated session was over, Henry started 
quietly for home. " He passed down the street," 
said a neighbor, " wearing buckskin breeches, his 
saddlebags on his arm, leading a lean horse, and 
chatting with a friend who walked at his side." 

George HI was slow to learn that the people 
have rights as well as the king. He would have 
done well to give heed to the discontent of the colo- 
nists and to the counsel of wise English statesmen. 
Many members of Parliament, among them William 
Pitt, sympathized with the Americans, and were glad 
when they refused to pay the stamp tax. " I rejoice," 
said Pitt in a great speech in the House of Commons, 
" that America has resisted." 

If this had been the first unjust measure imposed 
by England upon her colonies, they might have 
regarded it with less concern. We have already 
learned how they had to confine their trade in 
tobacco, rice, and other American products to 
English ports, to use only English ships, and to 
buy nothing made in any factory or mill except an 
English one. They were not allowed to make for 
themselves so much as a horseshoe nail, or to print 
even a copy of the New Testament. We know, also, 
that some of the governors who were sent out from 
England, men like Berkeley, for example, were more 



PATRICK HENRY 



257 



concerned with making fortunes for themselves and 
for the king, than in advancing the interests of the 
settlers in America. 



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Patriots burning Stamped Paper 



So the colonists everywhere agreed that they 
would not pay the hated stamp tax, and to show 
they were in earnest, they burned boxes of stamped 
paper as soon as they were taken from the ships. 



258 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

When King George found that the colonists would 
not pay this tax, he tried a new method of getting 
money from them. Another act was passed, pro- 
viding that they should pay a tax on all tea, glass, 
paper, and paint which they bought in England. 
This only aroused anew the anger of the colonists, 
who declared : " We will do without all these things 
rather than pay duty on them." 

In the next chapter we shall learn more about 
this tax and what came of it. Boston resented it so 
bitterly that the king thought he would punish that 
town by closing the port, so that no vessel might 
enter or leave the harbor. Upon hearing this, all 
the colonies determined to help Boston in her 
trouble. Some of the wisest and best men of each 
colony were chosen in 1774 to meet in Philadelphia 
at what is known in history as the First Continental 
Congress. They met to talk over the alarming 
situation and to agree upon some plan of action. 

Patrick Henry and George Washington were 
among the delegates sent from Virginia. These 
were the days before railroads and steamboats, and 
Henry made the journey from Virginia to Phila- 
delphia on horseback, stopping over night at 
Mount Vernon. In the morning he and Wash- 
ington set out together for the Congress. 

In the convention Patrick Henry's words made a 
deep impression. He urged the delegates to forget 
that they were from the colonies of Pennsylvania, 



PATRICK HENRY 259 

New York, or Massachusetts, and to remember that 
hereafter they must all unite in a common cause. 
For himself he declared, " I am not a Virginian, 
but an American." John Adams afterward said : 
" No one in the Congress except Patrick Henry 
appeared to understand the precipice upon which 




Washington, Henry, and Pendleton going to the First 
Congress 

we stood, and had candor and courage enough to 
acknowledge it." Not long after the close of the 
Continental Congress, a convention was held in 
Vircrinia. Matters had orone from bad to worse, 
and the trouble with King George was daily grow- 
ing more serious. 

The convention met in St. John's Church, Rich- 
mond. This old building is now visited every year 
by thousands of persons eager to see the place 



26o FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

where Patrick Henry made his wonderful speech. 
On that memorable day it was crowded to the doors. 
The greatest excitement prevailed. But when the 
clear voice of the orator rang out a deathlike 
silence fell upon all. Straightening himself to his 
full height, with commanding and graceful gestures, 
and the passion for freedom flashing from his eyes, 
the speaker said : 

" There is no longer any room for hope of peace. 
If we wish to be free, we must fight ! An appeal 
to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us. 
We shall not fight our battles alone. There is a 
just God who presides over the destinies of nations, 
and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for 
us. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be pur- 
chased at the price of chains and slavery .^^ Forgive it, 
Almighty God ! I know not what course others may 
take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death." 

In this famous address, parts of which are to-day 
known to every schoolboy, Patrick Henry had the 
courage to utter words which most of his country- 
men felt, but did not dare express. 

As we continue our story we shall see that war did 
come, with all its horror and bloodshed, and we shall 
learn what were the results of that great conflict. 

Throughout the rest of his life Patrick Henry 
was a brave, loyal, and useful citizen. Just before 
war was declared, the royal governor of Virginia, 
Lord Dunmore, took all the colony's gunpowder 



PATRICK HENRY 



261 



from the public storehouse and placed it on board 
an English vessel. The people could stand such 
injustice no longer, and Patrick Henry led the first 
armed resistance to English rule in Virginia. He 
organized a volunteer force and compelled the gov- 
ernor to pay the colony for the gunpowder. 




St. John's Church, Richmond 
In this church the Virginia Convention met in 1775. 

Henry was a delegate to the Second Continen- 
tal Congress, and he was the first commander of the 
Virginia Revolutionary army. When the war 
cloud burst and the royal governor was obliged 
to withdraw, Henry was made the first governor of 
Virginia. To this post Patrick Henry was twice 
reelected, but he declined many national ofiices — 
secretary of state under President Washington, 
chief justice of the United States, and an am- 
bassadorship to France. 



262 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

The last years of the great orator's life were spent 
on his large plantation, Red Hill, surrounded by 
his children and grandchildren; and he loved nothing 
better than to play and romp with little children. 

Patrick Henry suffered from poor health for many 
years, but he was always ready to do whatever he could 
for his state and country. He was beloved by every 
one for his sweetness of character, sympathy for the 
oppressed, and willingness to help all who were in 
trouble. " He was a good fighter," said one in 
speaking of him, "but never a good hater." People 
sometimes wronged him because they were jealous of 
his fame and power, but his heart was too kind to 
harbor bitterness even toward these. 

The terrible war between England and her Ameri- 
can colonies is known as the Revolution. Wher- 
ever its story is told, the name of Patrick Henry 
will live. Americans will never forget the man 
who dared to rise in that famous Virginia conven- 
tion and declare that he would rather die than live 
without liberty. By this and similar speeches he 
helped to inspire the colonists to stand firm for 
freedom, and to win it. 

Things to Remember 

In 1765 the English Parhament passed the Stamp Act, which 
laid a tax on paper used by the American colonists for legal and 
other purposes. 

The Americans believed that Parliament had no right to tax 
them, because America had no representatives in Parliament. 



PATRICK HENRY 



26t, 



Patrick Henry, a native of Virginia, was one of the greatest 
American orators. His eloquence convinced the colonists that 
they would no longer be free men if they submitted to unjust 
taxation. 

Henry became one of the leaders of the colonists. He was 
among the first to insist that they must fight for freedom, rather 
than submit to the tyranny of King George HI. 

Henry was the first governor of the state of Virginia. 

Alap Work. — Locate Williamsburg and Richmond. 

Memory Selection. — Patrick Henry, " War Inevitable." 




The Colonies in 1776: Southern Section 



XXIII. SAMUEL ADAMS 

Born 1722 — Died 1803 

Swift as their summons came they left 
The plow mid-furrow standing still, 
The half-ground corn grist in the mill, 

The spade in earth, the ax in cleft. 

They went where duty seemed to call, 
They scarcely asked the reason why ; 
They only knew they could but die, 
■ And death was not the worst of all. 

— Whittier's " Lexington." 

" This is a glorious morning for America," said 
Samuel Adams when he heard the first guns fired 
at Lexington. He knew that his countrymen had 
at last begun the fight for independence. Samuel 
Adams was a quiet, peace-loving man, who hated 
the horrors of war, but he also hated injustice and 
oppression. " Unless King George's tyranny is 
checked," said he, " it will increase until we are 
little more than slaves." 

Adams was among the very first to declare that 
England had no right to tax the American colonies. 
At a town meeting held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, a 
building which has been called the " Cradle of Lib- 
erty," he spoke out almost as boldly as had Patrick 
Henry in Virginia. " I denounce the act as un- 

264 



i 



SAMUEL ADAMS 



265 



just," said he, " and I urge you not to submit to it." 
Benjamin Franklin, who at this time was in Eng- 
land, advised the king and Parliament not to 
attempt to enforce the tax. " I warn you," said 
Franklin, "that my countrymen will never submit." 
But, as he afterward re- 
marked, " I mis^ht as well 
have tried to stop the sun 
setting." 

The colonists were no 
more willing to pay the tax 
on tea, glass, and paint than 
they had been to pay the 
stamp tax. " Let us all 
agree," said Samuel Adams, 
"to eat and drink and wear 
nothing which England 
sends here to sell, so long as 
the king demands this money from us." Through- 
out the colonies thousands of persons refused to use 
anything of British manufacture. Wives and daugh- 
ters, no matter how wealthy, wore fabrics which 
they themselves spun and wove, while men banded 
together to resist the tax. They called themselves 
the " Sons of Liberty." 

Month by month the feeling against King George 
grew more bitter. On the day when the new tax 
went into effect business was suspended, bells were 
tolled, and flags raised at half-mast. Urged by 




Samuel Adams 
After the portrait by Copley. 



L 



266 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Adams, the Massachusetts Assembly sent to the 
other colonies a letter asking them to resist the 
English agents who tried to collect the money. 

But England seemed bent on doing everything 
in her power to annoy the Americans. She sent 
troops to New York and to Boston, with orders that 
they should be supported at the public expense. 
" In this way," said the king, " I will punish these 
obstinate people." 

Two regiments landed at Long Wharf, Boston, 
and marched to the common, where they paraded 
with much pomp. The citizens were very indig- 
nant, and, as might have been expected, trouble 
came before long. Workmen and idlers constantly 
passing the places where the troops were quartered, 
managed to bring on disputes and quarrels, and 
as time wore on people of all classes became more 
and more angry at the presence of the soldiers. 
But the royal governor felt himself much safer with 
English soldiers in the town, and would not with- 
draw them. 

One day in March, 1770, after the soldiers had 
been quartered in Boston about a year and a half, a 
mob of excited people attacked a body of troops 
with stones, sticks, and pieces of ice, and dared the 
" lobster backs " to fire. The red-coated British sol- 
diers accepted the challenge. They discharged their 
muskets into the crowd, and several persons were 
killed or wounded. 



SAMUEL ADAMS 



267 



On the morning following this massacre the peo- 
ple of Boston rose in their might. With one voice 
they declared that England had no right to send 
armed troops into a peaceful city, and they demanded 



m 



-^.mn 



iSv ■^•3^ii ■P^'L 

gilN'r'- ■#;iiis'Tfl:l 

Mm 




The Boston Massacre — the First Blood shed in the American 

Revolution 
After the engraving by Paul Revere. 

that these hated regiments be removed from the town. 
After much discussion Governor Hutchinson agreed 
to send one regiment away. 

But this did not satisfy the colonists. A com- 
mittee of fifteen men, led by Samuel Adams, called 



268 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

a town meeting in the Old South Meeting House, 
as Faneuil Hall was too small to hold all those who 
were eager to attend. The people of Boston held 
Adams in great respect, and when he earnestly in- 
sisted that " both regiments or none " should be re- 
moved, the crowd took up the cry. " Both regiments 
or none ! Both regiments or none ! " shouted thou- 
sands of voices in the building and in the streets 
At length the governor was forced to yield, and 
promised to send all the soldiers to an island in the 
harbor. These troops were always jokingly called 
" the Sam Adams regiments." 

Let us now look a little more closely at Samuel 
Adams himself. He had a fine face, clear, steel-blue 
eyes, was of medium height, and possessed pleasing 
manners. He was born in a fine old mansion in 
Boston, and was educated in the local schools and 
at Harvard. His father, who was a man of influ- 
ence in the town, had at one time been wealthy, but 
had lost his money in an unfortunate banking ven- 
ture. Forced to enter business again, he became 
the owner of a malt house, with Samuel for his part- 
ner, and after the father's death the young man car- 
ried on the business. He was nicknamed " Sammy 
the malster." 

Samuel Adams w^as nearly thirty years old before 
he began to take an active interest in public affairs. 
He had passed 'his fortieth year before his career as 
a great statesmian began. At this age his hair 



SAMUEL ADAMS 



269 



turned gray, and he began to suffer from a peculiar 
nervous trembling of the head and hands. 

Notwithstanding this outward appearance of age, 
a youthful fire burned in his heart. In his fortieth 
year he gave up all personal business, and until he 
was over eighty devoted his life to his country. 




Faneuil Hall — "The Cradle of Liberty" 

When not attending public meetings or to the duties 
of his offices, he was busy writing until long past mid- 
nio^ht. Seeino^ a bris^ht lio^ht in his window when 
they were ready for bed, his neighbors would say, 
" Sam Adams is still at work writing against the 
Tories." Brave Mrs. Adams shared her husband's 
patriotism. While he gave his time to the cause 
of American independence, she cheerfully toiled 
with her needle to obtain food for the children. 
Of the long struggle between America and Eng- 



270 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

land before war was finally declared, it has been 
said that in the North : " Boston led the thirteen 
colonies, and Sam Adams led Boston." It is cei*- 
tainly doubtful whether the courage of the colonists 
would have held out if Samuel Adams had not worked 
night and day, always cheerfully, always hopefully, 
urging his countrymen to stand firm for liberty. 

To return to the exciting events in Boston ; 
nothing after the withdrawal of the troops so 
aroused the public as the " Boston Tea Party." 
In those days the men and women of Massachusetts 
were quite as fond of good tea as they are now ; but 
you remember that tea was one of the articles Eng- 
land had taxed, and the colonists had pledged them- 
selves to do without it. Accordingly, when a vessel 
bearing chests of tea came up to a Boston wharf, 
the inhabitants declared that it should not be un- 
loaded. Notices were posted, inviting the citizens 
to meet under the Liberty Tree, to take such action 
as would compel the shippers to carry their goods 
back across the water. At this moment news arrived 
that three more tea ships were on the way. 

" This tea," said Adams, " is more to be dreaded 
than plague or pestilence." Another meeting was 
called, and seven thousand people filled the Old 
South Meeting House and overflowed into the street. 
They sent for one of the shippers and put to him 
the question : " Will you take your tea back to 
England.^" His reply was : "The governor will 



SAMUEL ADAMS 



271 



not permit me to do so at present." " Then," said 
Samuel Adams, "this meeting can do nothing more 
to save the country." 

It had been previously arranged that this remark 
of Adams should be a signal for action. Men rose 
from their seats, and followed a few disguised as 




:.^t'i'S'<t ^''4'^ ' 





The Boston Tea Party 
From an old print. 

Indians to Griffin's Wharf, where in the pale moon- 
light the tea ship rode at anchor. " If the tea can- 
not go back to England, it shall not be landed," cried 
the crowd. Leaping aboard the vessel, the men in 
Indian dress hurled three hundred and forty-two 
chests of tea into the harbor. For many a long 
month afterward Boston housewives steeped catnip 
and pennyroyal, and with patriotic zeal tried to enjoy 
this new drink. 



2 72 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

The news of the Boston Tea Party quickly spread 
over the country. Horsemen galloped in every 
direction to tell the story, and throughout the 
colonies there was great rejoicing. The citizens of 
Massachusetts now formed a Provincial Congress 
and chose John Hancock as president. 

In the same year, 1774, the First Continental 
Congress met in Philadelphia, and here, too, Samuel 
Adams became an imposing and powerful figure. 
He appeared in a new suit of clothes, new wig, new 
silk stockings and shoes — all provided by admiring 
friends. None of the ardent Americans who met in 
that famous Congress in the Quaker City worked 
harder, for the union of the colonies against their 
oppressor than did stout-hearted Samuel Adams. 

" I should advise persisting in our struggle for 
liberty," said he, " though it were revealed from 
heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to 
perish, and only one of a thousand to survive and 
retain his liberty. One such free man must possess 
more virtue and enjoy more happiness than a thou- 
sand slaves." 

While this Congress was in session Massachusetts 
enrolled an army of twelve thousand soldiers in 
order that she might be prepared if England should 
resort to arms. They were called " minutemen," 
for they held themselves ready to fight at a moment's 
notice. 

Before the convening of the Second Continental 



SAMUEL. ADAMS 



273 



Congress in Philadelphia in 1775, ^^"^ event of tre- 
mendous importance happened in America. The 
British had fired the first shot in the war of the 
Revolution, the war that was to free America from 
English rule. 

General Gage, the British military commander, 
had sent regiments out beyond Boston. He had 




Paul Revere's Ride 



I 



heard that the " Yankees " had stored a quantity of 
ammunition at Concord, and he resolved to seize it. 
Soon the night of April 18, 1775, eight hundred 
British troops set out for Concord. They had orders 
to stop at Lexington and arrest John Hancock and 
Samuel Adams, for it was known that they were in 
Lexington that night, ready to start the next day 
for the Congress at Philadelphia. The king knew 
just how important a part these men were playing in 



2 74 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

American resistance, and he ordered General Gage 
to send them to England to be tried for treason. 

Now the Americans had been quietly watching 
the British and knew exactly what they were in- 
tending to do. It had been agreed that as soon as 
the finglish troops started toward Concord, a lan- 
tern would be hung in the belfry of the Old North 
Church in Boston. As soon as this signal flashed, 
horsemen dashed out of the town to spread the 
news that the English were coming. William 
Dawes sped through Roxbury and Watertown, and 
Paul Revere rode through the towns north and west 
of Boston. 

As Revere spurred his tired steed into Lexing- 
ton, the watchman who guarded the house in which 
Adams and Hancock were sleeping met the daring 
horseman with the caution, " The family does not 
wish to be disturbed by any noise." "Noise!" 
shouted the excited Paul Revere. " Why, man, the 
English are coming!" 

He was none too soon. Clearly the sound of 
marching infantry was heard on the still night air. 
In haste Captain Parker assembled his minutemen 
on the village green. " Stand your 'ground," was 
his command. " Don't fire unless fired upon. But 
if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." 
* It was almost daybreak when the redcoats, under 
Major Pitcairn, marched into the village and saw 
the Americans drawn up on the common. " Dis- 



SAMUEL ADAMS 



275 



perse, ye villains ! " shouted Pitcairn. The colonists 
did not move. " Fire ! " he commanded, and seven 
American patriots fell dead. The British had been 
the first to fire. 

Adams and Hancock were by this time making 
their way in safety across the meadows toward 




The Battle at Lexington, April 19, 1775 
After the engraving by Anthony DooHttle. 

Wob.urn, and forty-eight hours later they were on 
the road to Philadelphia. 

After their deadly work at Lexington the British 
soldiers marched on, destroying whatever military 
stores they could find. But when the call " To 
arms ! " came, wath the tragic news of Lexington, 
the minutemen proved their faithfulness. Leaving 
plows in furrows, they rushed home for shotguns, 
powderhorns, and bullets which had been made 



2 76 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



from pewter spoons and dishes melted by their 
wives. Jumping on their horses, in many instances 
without stopping to put on coats, they rode from 
far and near toward the 
scene of action. Across 
the bridge at Concord 
gathered these patriot 
farmers, calm and resolute, 
ready* to give their lives 
for the cause of liberty, 
and there they met the 
redcoats in the first bat- 
tle of the Revolution, in 
which several men on 
both sides w^ere killed. 



" By the rude bridge that 

arched the flood, 
Their flag to April's 

breeze unfurled, 
Here once the embattled 

farmers stood 
And fired the shot heard 

round the world." 




Statue of the Minuteman at 
Concord 



The British started to march back to Boston, but 
the farmers were now thoroughly aroused. They 
fired from behind trees, fences, and buildings, and 
nearly three hundred redcoats had fallen before the 
Charlestown quarters were reached. 

On the 17th of June of this memorable year the 



SAMUEL ADAMS 277 

famous battle of Bunker Hill was fought. Bunker 
Hill and Breed's Hill were heights of Charlestow^n, 
with a commanding view of Boston. General Gage 
thought that he would seize and hold the heights 
for the British. 

When the Americans heard of this, fifteen hun- 
dred men under Colonel Prescott advanced up 
Breed's Hill after dark, and spent the whole night 
in building an embankment for protection. Imagine 
the astonishment of Gage when the sun rose, and he 
saw Colonel Prescott in command of the summit. 
The English general bit his lip in disappointment. 
" Is he a fighter ? " he asked some one who stood 
near. "He will fight as long as there is a drop 
of blood left in his body," was the reply. 

The heat of the day was intense, but an army 
of three thousand British troops, under General 
Howe, started at noon to climb the hill. As they 
neared the top, they were met with a terrific fire from 
the American guns. Exhausted, the English fell 
back, but they soon rallied and made a second attack, 
only to be driven back a second time with fearful loss. 

" Will the British give it up ? " " Can our men 
hold out ? " These were the questions burning on 
the lips of thousands who, from the roofs and 
steeples of Boston, watched the terrible battle. 

" Over heaps all torn and gory — shall I tell the fearful story, 
How they surged above the breastwork, as a sea breaks o'er a 
deck ; 



2 78 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

How, driven, yet scarce defeated, our worn-out men retreated. 
With their powderhorns all emptied, like the swimmers from a 
wreck? " 

By the time the EngHsh had raUied for their third 
assault, the Americans were firing their last rounds 
of ammunition. In any event the colonists who had 
toiled all night with shovels could not have gone on 
fighting for many more hours against fresh arrivals 
of British troops. Colonel Prescott saw that the 
moment had come to order a retreat, but their 
resistance had been so remarkable that the battle 
could scarcely be called a victory for the enemy. 
England's trained military men were astounded to 
find how well the American farmers could fight. 

The brave stand of these Massachusetts men 
strengthened all the colonies in their determination 
to take up arms for liberty. They now gave up 
hope of bringing King George to reason by peaceful 
means, and felt that there was only one thing left — 
to fight for freedom. 

To the close of his long life Samuel Adams gave 
his time ^d strength to his country. King George 
had failed to capture him and thus force him to 
stop urging his countrymen forward. The king 
now tried bribery. He sent General Gage to offer 
Adams valuable gifts and a powerful position if he 
would desert the colonies and come over to Eng- 
land's side. 

Can you not imagine the anger of Samuel Adams 



SAMUEL ADAMS 



79 



when this message was received ? Gage knew 
better than to deHver it in person, so he sent a 
messenger. The indignation of the patriot knew 
no bounds. " Tell Governor Gage," he angrily 



?^%-?^^^ 










The Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775 
Boston Battery. Charlestown. British troops attacking. 

From a contemporary print. 

replied, " that it is the advice of Samuel Adams to 
him that he no longer insult the feelings of an ex- 
asperated people. No personal consideration shall 
ever induce me to abandon the righteous cause of 
my country." 

Besides being a member of the Massachusetts 
Senate, Adams served in Congress for eight years, 



2So FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

and was three times elected governor of his state. 
He was one of the signers of the Declaration of 
Independence, the famous document drawn up by 
Congress in 1776, which stated that "The United 
Colonies are, and by right ought to be, free and 

ou-c /y\r^A>iAX*~aJ^j2Aj^ ^tCC desL. Kio -C<t c/n. i^hji/^ cnA^'y 



P'ACSmiLE OF THE LaST LiNES OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

In the writing of Jefferson, with the first three signatures. 

independent states." When Adams signed this 
paper, it was perhaps the proudest moment of his 
life. By his side sat his friend, John Hancock, who 
dashed down his name in huge letters, " In order," 
said he, "that George the Third may read it without 
spectacles." " Now," said some other signer, " we 
must all hang together." " Yes," quickly replied 
Ben Franklin with ready wit, "or we shall all hang 
separately." 

When Samuel Adams died he was buried in the 








\ 




282 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

old Granary burying ground in Boston. Every one 
mourned his loss. His simple ways and threadbare 
clothes had endeared him to the poor, who regarded 
him as their friend and were not afraid to come to 
him at all times for help. The wealthy and educated 
appreciated him still more, for they knew the sacri- 
fices he had made, and what his busy brain and will- 
ing pen had done to help the cause for which they 
were all fighting. 

Things to Remember 

Samuel Adams of Massachusetts was one of the leaders of the 
American Revolution, which was caused by the tyranny of King 
George III. 

He was one of the first to declare that England had no right to 
tax her colonies in America unjustly. 

He led the famous town meetings in Faneuil Hall, Boston, 
which has been called the '' Cradle of Liberty." 

The colonists refused to pay England's tax on tea, and in 
Boston in 1773 the townspeople threw chests of tea into the 
harbor. 

King George thought he could compel the Americans to sub- 
mit, so he sent soldiers to Boston and New York. 

The first shot in the War of the Revolution was- fired by the 
British at Lexington, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775, and the 
same day the first battle was fought at Concord. 

The battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775. 

The Declaration of Independence was signed at Philadelphia 
on July 4, 1776. From this time the Americans declared them- 
selves to be, not English subjects, but free and independent Ameri- 
can citizens. 

Samuel Adams was governor of Massachusetts, a member of the 



SAMUEL ADAMS 



283 



First and Second Continental Congresses, and one of the signers 
of the Declaration of Independence. 

Map Work. — Locate Boston, Lexington, Concord, Charles- 
town. 

Memory Selections. — Longfellow, " Paul Revere's Ride " ; 
Emerson, "Concord Hymn"; Pierpont, "Warren's Address." 




•? Hartford 

^ .'coNXEi;TicuT| I .{Vr'^?^^^ 

Newliurg n\ Haven fr'**^<;C3 —^ C 



The Colonies in 1776: Northern Section 



XXIV. GEORGE WASHINGTON 

Born 1732 — Died 1799 

Pale is the February sky, 

And brief the midday's sunny hours ; 

The wind-swept forest seems to sigh 

For the sweet time of leaves and flowers. 

Yet has no month a prouder day, 

Not even when the summer broods 
O'er meadows in their fresh array, 

Or autumn tints the glowing woods. 

For this chill season now again 

Brings, in its annual round, the morn 

When, greatest of the sons of men, 
Our glorious Washington was born. 

— Bryant's "The Twenty-second of February." 

Every boy and girl is familiar with the portrait 
of Washington, for it hangs upon the walls of school- 
houses throughout the land. But do you know 
anything about his boyhood.^ Did you ever try to 
picture him in his home in Virginia, playing with 
his younger brothers and sisters; or riding over his 
father's plantation by the side of his older half- 
brothers ? 

George Washington was born at Bridges Creek, 
Virginia. His childhood was passed near Freder- 

284 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



285 




Birthplace of Washington 
The site of the house is now marked by a 



monument. 



icksburg, on a fine estate to which his parents 
moved when he w^as very young. Here Washing- 
ton's father, a man of 
excellent education, 
and his beautiful 
mother reared their 
large family. Law- 
rence, the oldest child, 
was sent to England 
to be educated, for 
the family was of 
good English ancestry, and the Washingtons in 
America still loved their old home. 

There were no good country schools near Fred- 
ericksburg in those early days. George Washing- 
ton learned to " read, write, and 
cipher " in an " old field school- 
house," where the parish sexton 
w^as teacher. 

Before the boy was eleven years 
old his father died, and after 
that his mother had to fill the 
place of both parents. She tried 
to teach George self-control, for 
he had a high temper, and to im- 
plant in him a love of honor and justice. After a 
time she sent him to live with his brother Augus- 
tine at Bridges Creek, that he might go to a better 
school. 




Washington Coat of 
Arms 



286 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

It is clear that at the age of thirteen Washing- 
ton regarded his school work very seriously. He 
learned to draw up documents and keep accounts, 
and this training was of great benefit to him in 
later years. Some of the neat copy books that he 
made in these days are still in existence. 

Washington was a tall, strong boy, fond of all 
kinds of athletics. His playmates found it hard to 
keep pace with him, but they loved him and looked 
upon him as a leader who would settle fairly all 
disputes. He could throw a stone farther than any 
other boy, and excelled in jumping and wrestling. 
He was a great lover of horses, and was never 
afraid to ride any that he could mount. His 
mother's favorite colt was so wild that no one but 
George dared to put a bridle on him. 

During the last years of his school life Washing- 
ton studied mathematics and land surveying. The 
country was still young; immense tracts of land 
were unexplored ; in fact, the entire territory west 
of the Mississippi River was an untrodden wilder- 
ness. So surveying was one of the most useful 
occupations for which a youth could fit him- 
self. 

Lawrence Washington was now married and 
lived on a large estate on the Potomac River, 
where George would spend weeks at a time. Law- 
rence named his plantation Mount Vernon, in mem- 
ory of Admiral Vernon, an English commander 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



287 



with whom he had served in a campaign in the 
West Indies. 

Near the broad acres of Mount Vernon lay the 
immense estate of Lord Fairfax, whose cousin 
was Lawrence Washington's wife. Fairfax, in his 




Mount Vernon 

American home, lived exactly like an English coun- 
try gentleman. He kept many horses and hounds, 
and enjoyed fox hunts in true English style. 

Young George soon became a favorite with this 
jolly English lord, who delighted to take the boy 
with him to hunt or to ride over his vast domain. 
Fairfax was impressed by the lad's skill in manag- 
ing horses, and by the ability he showed in survey- 
ing his brother's fields. 



2 88 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



It chanced that Lord Fairfax's property extended 
so far into the wilderness that he was not certain 
where it ended. He therefore proposed that Wash- 
ington should make a survey of his estate, and 
properly mark its boundaries. The youth was 

much pleased to un- 
dertake the task, and 
at the beginning of 
his seventeenth year, 
with Fairfax's son for 
companion, he set out 
to make the survey. 

Before he returned 
he had surveyed a 
large part of the 
lovely valley through 
which the Shenan- 
doah River flows. 
He had learned how 
to enjoy the rough life of the woods ; how to build 
camp fires and to cook ; how to sleep comfortably 
under the stars. 

He had become hardened by long rides and 
tramps in bad weather, and had met many Indians 
whom he made his friends. Through the influence 
of Lord Fairfax, Washington was appointed public 
surveyor. His measurements were so accurate that 
they are used to this day. 

The story of the French and Indian War has 




Washington as a Surveyor 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 289 

already been told, but it will be interesting to re- 
view Washington's part in it. You will remember 
that the English had no idea of allowing the 
French to hold the country between the Missis- 
sippi River and the Alleghany Mountains. In the 
year 1753 they sent a message to the French, com- 
manding them to stop building forts at Presque 
Isle, Le Boeuf, and Venango. 

George Washington was chosen to carry this 
letter through the wild country to the French com- 
mander. Washington was only twenty-one years of 
age at this time. In the depths of winter, through 
dense woods and over swollen streams, he traveled 
on horseback five hundred miles and safely delivered 
the message. With the sealed reply in his pocket 
he set out on the perilous homeward journey. 

The country was full of Indians, whom the 
French had tried by every means in their power to 
win to their side. This made Washington's ride 
extremely dangerous, for the Indians laid many 
traps for him. Yet he not only escaped, but some- 
times made friends of the very savages who tried to 
capture him. 

The letter which Washington carried back was 
not satisfactory to the English. " We can plainly 
see," said they, "that the French will never peace- 
ably give up that country. There is nothing left 
for us to do but to send troops to the frontier." 

The point where the Alleghany and Mononga- 



290 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

hela rivers join to form the Ohio, seemed to be 
the best location for a miUtary stronghold, and 
accordingly the English began to build a fort 
there. But the French, too, wanted this junction. 
One day, to the great surprise of the handful of 
Englishmen at work, one thousand Frenchmen 
appeared and drove them out of the half-built fort. 
The French then took possession, finished the work, 
and named the fort Duquesne, in honor of the gov- 
ernor of Canada. 

In the spring of 1754, Colonel Fry was sent out 
with a force of English to drive the French from 
this important post. Washington was second in 
command, but, by the death of his colonel, he soon 
became head of the expedition. 

For one month the English troops marched for- 
ward with all possible speed. Then at Great Mead- 
ows they met a body of Frenchmen, and no sooner 
did the enemies meet than firing began. Ten 
Frenchmen were killed and twenty taken prisoners, 
while Washington lost only one man. 

When the excitement of the first skirmish was 
over and victory was his, Washington exclaimed, 
" There is something charming in the sound of the 
whistling bullets." Years afterward, when he had 
learned too well what war really meant, he was asked 
if he remembered ever to have made such a remark : 
Gravely the great commander replied : "If I said 
so, it was when I was very young." 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



291 



Washington realized the danger of so long a 
march through the enemy's country, so he ordered 
a halt, and in great haste built Fort Necessity as a 
place of retreat. Here he was 
overtaken by a large force of 
Frenchmen,who outnumbered 
him four to one. As his 
provisions were nearly ex- 
hausted, he was obliged to 
surrender and return to Vir- 
ginia. 

The death of Lawrence 
Washington had placed 
George in possession of 
Mount Vernon, which was 
ever afterward his home. But 
he had hardly time to begin to enjoy the quiet 
country life, when again he felt called to public 
service. 

England was now thoroughly alive to the neces- 
sity of driving out the French. Regular troops 
were sent to America in the summer of 1755, under 
the command of General Braddock. When Wash- 
ington rode over from Mount Vernon to Alexandria, 
where the well-trained redcoats were assembling, he 
felt a strong desire to join Braddock's army, and the 
general was delighted to have so valuable a man on 




General Edward Braddock 



his staff 



With banners flying and drums 



beating. 



the 



292 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

troops left Alexandria on a pleasant April day. 
Braddock was an experienced commander, but knew 
nothing of war in the wilderness. When Washing- 
ton warned him of the dangers from Indians, he 
haughtily replied : " These savages may indeed be a 
formidable enemy to raw American militia, but upon 
the king's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is 
impossible they should make an impression." 

Brave, but mistaken. General Braddock ! The 
chariot in which he gaily set out, a bodyguard 
galloping on each side, had to be abandoned in the 
rough, narrow mountain roads. A hard march in- 
deed he then found it. After a time Washington 
advised sending out scouting parties to clear the 
woods of Indians. Braddock laughed at this, and 
with England's colors flying in the wind pressed 
boldly on. This was a fatal error ; for what W^ash- 
ington feared soon happened. 

With terrible yells and war whoops the Indians 
opened a murderous fire from behind trees and 
bushes. The poor soldiers were mercilessly shot 
down without even seeing their enemies. Un- 
used to this kind of fighting, the boasted "king's 
regulars " became panic-stricken. They did not 
stop to obey their officers, but fled in terror, firing 
wildly as they ran. Often they killed their own 
men. 

Braddock remained in the thick of the fight until 
he was borne from the field fatally wounded. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



293 



Washington had two horses shot under him, and 
four bullets passed through his coat sleeve. The 
English army was completely routed. Before Brad- 
dock breathed his last, he acknowledged to Wash- 
in q- ton that he should 
have taken his advice. 
This defeat was a bit- 
ter blow, but prepara- 
tions were at once be- 
gun for greater efforts, 
and again Washington 
busied himself in plan- 
ning the capture of Fort 
Duquesne. 

This proved an easy 
task. The French had 
become frightened at 
the manner in which 
the colonists of New 
York and New Eno:- 
land were seizing 
French strongholds in 
the north, so they resolved to retreat. They blew 
up the magazine, set fire to the fort, and marched 
out the very day before Washington's men came up. 
The English placed their flag on the ruins, rebuilt 
the fort, and named it Fort Pitt. 

Washington resigned his commission in the army 
in 1759, and in the same year was married to Mrs. 




Route of Braddock's Expedition 



294 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Martha Custis, a young widow. At this time Wash- 
ington was well known throughout the colonies. 
Though only twenty-seven years of age, he was every- 
where looked upon as one of the best military leaders. 
He was made a member of the Virginia legislature, 
and was present when the House passed a vote of 
thanks for the services he had rendered his country. 
The young man, so bold and daring in the saddle 
and on the battlefield, rose to reply ; but he blushed, 
stammered, and could not utter a word. " Sit down, 
Mr. Washington," said the Speaker, smiling ; " your 
modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the 
power of any language I possess." 

Washington loved the country life at Mount Ver- 
non. Instead of trusting his estate to overseers, 
he looked after all details himself. His early train- 
ing in the methodical keeping of accounts now 
stood him in good stead. The handsome man- 
sion became noted for its hospitality. There were 
many wealthy planters in Virginia, and life there 
was much gayer than in New England among the 
strict Puritans. Mrs. Washington rode out in her 
chariot drawn by four horses, with black postilions 
in livery. Washington never lost the love of hunt- 
ing that he acquired when, as a boy, he rode by the 
side of Lord Fairfax, and many were the fox hunts, 
ending in jolly dinners, that the master of Mount 
Vernon enjoyed with his friends. W^hen Mrs. 
Custis married Washington, she had two charming 



I 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



295 



children whom he loved as his own, and tenderly 
cared for. And so passed happily the first years of 
his married life. 

When Patrick Henry returned from the First Con- 
tinental Congress, some one asked him whom he con- 
sidered the greatest man at the Congress. Henry's 
reply was : " If you speak of solid information and 




A Reception by Martha Washington 

sound judgment. Colonel Washington is unquestion- 
ably the greatest man." After the famous Virginia 
convention at which Henry had declared that the colo- 
nists must fight, Washington wrote to his brother: 
" It is my full intention, if needful, to devote my life 
and fortune to the cause of liberty." 

When the Second Continental Congress met in 
1775, the first blood of the Revolution had been shed 
at Lexington and Concord. It was necessary for Con- 



296 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

gress to come at once to the support of the brave 
minutemtn, and to organize a regular army with a 
commander-in-chief. When John Adams rose and 
said : " I have but one gentleman in mind for that 
important command, a gentleman from Virginia who 
is well known to us all," all eyes were upon the 
modest young colonel, who quickly darted out of 
the room. 

Washington was unanimously chosen commander- 
in-chief of the army. With a full understanding of 
the great trust placed in his hands, he solemnly 
pledged himself to devote his time and energy to 
the cause of freedom. But he declined to accept 
any pay for his services. 

On the 2ist of June, 1775, the commander set out 
on horseback from Philadelphia for Boston, accom- 
panied by his major generals, Lee and Schuyler. 
They halted at New York and learned the details of 
the battle of Bunker Hill. With increased speed 
Washington pressed on towards Cambridge, where 
headquarters had been provided for him in a fine old 
mansion, afterward the home of the poet Longfellow. 
As he rode into camp, the shouts of the delighted 
soldiers and the roaring of cannon gave him wel- 
come. Under an old elm tree, which is still stand- 
ing. General Washington drew his sword, and took 
formal command of the army. 

Captain Daniel Morgan of New Jersey had been 
with Washington under Braddock. When his young 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



297 



Virginia friend was made commander-in-chief, Mor- 
gan marched his little company of sharpshooters to 
Cambridge, covering the six hundred miles in three 
weeks. 

As Washington learned that the English in 
Canada were planning to attack New York, he sent 
troops northward. The army left behind was with- 
out ammunition. There was, therefore, wild rejoic- 




Washixgton taking Co.mmaxd of the Contixextal Army 

ing among the Cambridge troops when General 
Knox appeared one day with forty cannon. He 
had captured Fort Ticonderoga, and had dragged 
the guns all the way to Cambridge with ox teams 
and sleds. 

The time had now come when the British were 
to be driven out of Boston. One night in March, 
1776, under Washington's direction, hundreds of 



298 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

men worked silently in the moonlight and threw up 
intrenchments on Dorchester Heights. The next 
morning the British officers were astonished. Said 
one of them : " At daybreak we discovered two re- 
doubts on Dorchester Point, and two smaller ones 
on their flanks. They were all raised during last 
night with an expedition equal to that of the genii be- 
longing to Aladdin's wonderful lamp. From these 
hills the Americans command the whole town, so 
that we must drive them from their post or desert 
the place." 

General Howe, who had forced Prescott from 
Bunker Hill, could scarcely believe his eyes w^hen 
he beheld this fortress through the morning fog. 
" These rebels," he exclaimed, " have done more 
work in one night than my whole army would have 
done in a month." Before this he had said that he 
" hoped the rebels would attack him " ; but he was 
not so anxious to fight now. 

He saw, however, that something must be done. 
So between two and three thousand men were sent 
on transports to Castle William, where other British 
troops were quartered. While the troops were on 
the water, a violent storm came up. The boats could 
make no headway, but lay tossing at the mercy of 
the gale for two days, while the rain fell in torrents, 
and wild winds piled the surf so high that the trans- 
ports could not land. 

When the storm at last was over, General Howe 



I 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



299 



was vexed to find, that the Americans had had time 
to strengthen their breastworks, and that he could 
not possibly drive them out. His fleet lay fully ex- 
posed to the fire from Dorchester Heights. There 
was nothing to do but retreat, so he resolved to take 
his army to Halifax. At four o'clock in the morn- 
ing the Americans were cheered by the sight of the 
entire British fleet, laden with soldiers and refugees, 
putting out to sea. 




The Evacuation of Boston by the British 

What a triumph for Washington ! In only a few 
months, with his farmer soldiers, he had driven out 
of Boston an army of veterans, commanded by ex- 
perienced generals. Congress passed a unanimous 
vote of thanks, and the whole nation praised him. 

It was clear from the movements of the British 
that they meant to make their next attack on New 
York, for they desired to obtain control of the Hudson 



300 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

River. Accordingly, Washington hurried his army 
to that point. Fortifications had been erected on 
the New York and New Jersey shores, but thousands 
of British troops were encamped in Brooklyn and on 
Staten Island. It was impossible for Washington to 
make out whether the enemy intended to attack 
New York itself, or that part of Long Island that 
lay just across the East River. When too late, he 
found that the latter was to be the fighting point. 
In the battle of Long Island, waged on the site 
where Brooklyn now stands, the Americans were 
defeated. 

The night that followed was a sleepless one for the 
commander-in-chief, and daybreak showed him the 
dangerous position of his army. With his telescope he 
could make out that they were completely surrounded. 
Nothing was left but to withdraw as quickly as pos- 
sible. The retreat was so well planned that Wash- 
ington became a greater hero than ever. That 
night, under cover of darkness, the regiments were 
marched down to the water and embarked in boats, 
while sentinels remained in sight above the breast- 
works, so that the British might not suspect what 
was happening. 

By the time that the last troops pushed out from 
the shore a thick fog had lowered, preventing the 
enemy from seeing the American intrenchment. 
When morning dawned, not an American soldier 
remained. W^ashington refused to enter a boat 



I 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



301 



until the last man was aboard. For forty-eight 
hours he had had no sleep, and for the greater part of 
that time had been in the saddle. 

The British had yet to learn that Washington 
would never stay beaten. On Christmas night, 1 776, 




Passage of the Troops at Long Island 

wath between two and three thousand men, he 
crossed the Delaware River, made dangerous by 
huge cakes of floating ice; and marching nine miles 
in a blinding snowstorm, surprised the enemy at 



302 



FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Trenton. He captured a thousand prisoners and 
a large quantity of powder. This brilliant victory, 
toq-ether with his success in the battle of Princeton 
on January 3 following, cheered the army and the 
country. 

After the battle of Trenton the great commander 
was sorely in need of money for his army. So 




Washington crossing the Delaware 
After the painting by Leutze. 

he appealed for help to Robert Morris of Phila- 
delphia. Washington's letter was delivered before 
daybreak. Without waiting for the sun to rise, Mr. 
Morris started out in the cold winter morning and 
went from house to house among his friends, begging 
them to lend him all the money they could spare. 
In a few hours fifty thousand dollars were on their 
way to General Washington. Many times afterward ^ 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



3^3 



did Mr. Morris lend from his own fortune to the orov- 
ernment. There were times when it would have been 
almost impossible to carry on the war without his aid. 
In 1777, at the battle of Brandywine, twenty-five 
miles from Philadelphia, each side lost over a thou- 




Washington in Winter Quarters at Valley Forge 

sand men, and the Americans were finally driven 
from the field. Again, at German town, they met 
defeat. But their attacks were so daring and their 
bravery so great that the eyes of Europeans were 
turned upon America. They found, to their amaze- 
ment, that untrained farmers could successfully fight 
disciplined troops, and that the American army was 
commanded by a military genius. 

Our brave soldiers, suffering from cold and hun- 
ger, with ragged clothing, and shoes so worn that 



304 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

blood marked their footsteps, marched to winter 
quarters at Valley Forge. Many were ill and obliged 
to seek shelter in farmhouses until trees could be 
cut down and tents built. 

But help was soon to come, for Benjamin Frank- 
lin was in France, fighting for his country just as 



Franklin at the Court of France 

earnestly as Washington was fighting here, though 
in a different way. Through Franklin's influence 
France, ever ready to see England beaten, promised 
to lend us money and to aid us with soldiers and 
ships. When this news reached Valley Forge, the 
poor, half-starved soldiers shouted for joy. Other 
encouragement came when a splendid German sol- 
dier, Baron von Steuben, offered to drill the undis- 
ciplined troops. 

Among the many bitter trials which the com- 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



305 



mander-in-chief had to endure was the treason of 
Benedict Arnold. At the beginning of the war 
Arnold was one of the bravest fighters in the Amer- 
ican army. Washington made him a general and 
intrusted him with the command of the fort at West 
Point, on the Hudson River. But in a mad mo- 




The Death-Warrant of Major Andre 
From an old print. 

ment of envy and spite at some fancied wrong, Ar- 
nold turned traitor. With a British messenger, Major 
Andre, he entered into a plot to surrender West 
Point to the English. Happily the plot was dis- 
covered in time. Andre was hanged as a spy, and 
Arnold w^ould have been executed as a traitor had 
he not escaped into the enemy's lines. 

Strong and brave man as he was, General Wash- 
ington shed tears when he walked into Arnold's 
house a few hours after the traitor had escaped, 



3o6 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

and learned for the first time of the treachery of 
this trusted officer. 

Arnold received a large sum of money for his be- 
trayal, but this did not bring him happiness. After 
the war he lived in England, but no one trusted 
him or respected him. On his deathbed he asked 
for the uniform that he had worn the day he made 
his escape, and which he had always kept. " Let 
me die in this old uniform in which I fought so 
many battles for my country," said he. " God for- 
give me for ever putting on another." 

In the following chapters we shall learn more 
details of the Revolution, as we study the lives of 
great men who took part in it. It required seven 
long years of fighting and suffering to bring the 
weary struggle to a close. The siege of Yorktown 
in 1 78 1 ended with the surrender of the British 
army. In the South Lord Cornwallis commanded 
the English, and Nathanael Greene the American 
troops. Slowly but surely Greene drove the enemy 
out of North and South Carolina and into Virginia. 

He had an able assistant in General Marion, who 
hunted the British army through the low, wet lands 
of the South, and was so feared and hated by the 
English that they called him the " Swamp Fox." 
When Cornwallis reached Virginia, he found Amer- 
ican troops under General Lafayette ready to dog 
the heels of the British and drive them to Yorktown. 
Here Cornwallis tried to fortify himself. 



3o8 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Washington, who was now with that part of the 
army which lay near New York, watching the move- 
ments of General CHnton who commanded the Eng- 
lish forces, felt that the hour had come for final 
victory. French war-ships were in the harbor, and 
these were immediately sent to Yorktown to prevent 
the escape of Cornwallis by sea. Then Washington 
hurried his own troops to Virginia. But while he 
was secretly rushing his army southward, a consider- 
able force was left in New York. This caused the 
British general to believe that Washington was still 
straining every nerve to capture Clinton's army. 

For more than a week after Washington reached 
Yorktown the city was bombarded night and day. 
One house is said to have had a thousand cannon 
balls pass through its walls. Finally, on October 
19, 1 78 1, Lord Cornwallis marched out his soldiers 
and surrendered. 

Old Lord Fairfax, w4io, despite his love for Wash- 
ington, could never forgive his fighting against the 
king, heard the news of his young friend's victory 
and his royal ruler's defeat. Turning to his old negro 
servant, he said, " Carry me to bed, Joe: it's time for 
me to die." 

The surrender of Cornwallis practically ended the 
war. At Fraunce's Tavern, in New York, a building 
still standing, Washington bade his loved officers 
farewell. Tears filled his eyes as he said, " With a 
heart full of love and gratitude I now take leave of 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



309 




you, most devoutly wishing that your latter days may 
be as prosperous and happy as your former ones 
have been glorious and 
honorable." 

A general treaty of 
peace was signed in Paris 
in January, 1783. The 
independence so bravely 
fought for had been won. 
What should be done 
now.^ That was the ques- 
tion asked by the thirteen 
states. 

The Continental Con- 
gress had been made up 
of men chosen by the 
people to act for them in 
carrying on the war. Now that peace was at hand 
this Congress was no longer enough. Our wisest men 
foresaw that, if we were to become a nation, we must 
have a strong national government. So a Federal 
Convention was called to meet at Philadelphia in 
1787. Washington was the presiding ofificer. Here 
a great document was drawn up and signed by thirty- 
nine delegates. It was called the Constitution of 
the United States. Washington was its first signer, 
and Benjamin Franklin, then in his eighty-second 
year, was the oldest man to write his signature to 
this famous paper, that is still the law^ of the nation. 



Facsimile of the Signatures 
UPON THE Treaty of Peace, 
1783 

From the original in the State De- 
partment, Washington. 



3IO FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

When Washington resigned his generalship with 
the coming of peace, he had looked forward to years 
of quiet happiness at Mount Vernon. But the na- 
tion, still young and weak, felt its further need of his 
aid. The Constitution provided that a President 
should be chosen, and George Washington was the 
unanimous choice of the people. His country could 
not let him enjoy the rest he had so gloriously 
earned. 

New York City was selected as the capital of the 
United States. On April 30, 1789, Washington 
took the oath of office on the balcony of a building 
that stood where the subtreasury on Wall Street 
may now be seen. Shouts w^ent up from thousands 
of throats, myriads of flags waved in the breeze, and 
cannons boomed a greeting to the first President. 

Do not think that W^ashington had an easy task 
before him. Years of warfare had laid the country 
waste and burdened her with a heavy debt. The 
only way to meet this debt was by taxation, and the 
American people had learned to resent the word 
"tax." Also, each colony had been in the habit of 
governing itself, and found it difficult to submit to 
any higher authority. 

Many serious questions were discussed, misunder- 
standings and disappointments arose, and the path 
that Washington and his cabinet had to tread was 
a thorny one. The eyes of all Europe were upon 
the young republic, watching the experiment of a 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



311 



new form of government, in a land made desolate by 
war. "Surely such an unheard-of thing cannot suc- 
ceed," said the nations across the sea. 

That America came safely through this great 
crisis, to the surprise of the world, was due to the 



wise guidance 


of 


Washington. 


The 


new nation 


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^f^ 






^^™|™- ,— P^^. 




Li 


m§ 


<l 


aI 'm 


rlL f f.|-i' 


^ 




lUi 




:;*:;^- .Sirf 


mm w ^* 


i 


'%'mS 


i 


mM 


'[:■<■' 


1 



had made no mistake in choosing its leader; for this 
man proved himself as great in peace as in war. 
That he was " first in war, first in peace, and first in 
the hearts of his countrymen," was well said of him 
after his death. One by one the many difficulties 
were mastered. The objection to taxation was grad- 
ually overcome, jealousies and quarrels were satis- 
factorily adjusted. As the people went back to their 
farms, mills, and shops, the country assumed a 



312 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

cheerful aspect. Corn and wheat began to grow on 
fields so lately crushed by the tramp of soldiers. 
Gradually the terrors of war were forgotten and 
fresh hope filled every heart. 

For eight years Washington served his country 
as President, but firmly declined a second reelection. 
He was allowed to retire to his beloved home with 
the respect, affection, and loyalty of every person in 




The Gold Medal presented to Washington by Congress 

the land. " We feel like children just released from 
school," said Mrs. Washington, when they were 
back at Mount Vernon. 

But only two short years were left to the " Father 
of his Country." While riding in a hard storm in 
December, 1799, he caught a severe cold, and in two 
days was dead. In the hour that he was laid to rest 
at Mount Vernon the tears of the nation told its 
grief. Congress had adjourned immediately on 
hearing of his death, and for the remainder of the 
session the members of the House wore mourning, 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 313 

while in every part of the Union there were public 
testimonials of grief. Even British ships lowered 
their flags to half-mast, while France suspended 
crape for ten days from all her public standards and 
flags. 

" The fame of Washington," says John Fiske, 
"stands apart from every other in history. Under 
all dissensions and amid all the storms of party his 
precepts and example speak to us from the grave 
with a paternal appeal ; and his name — by all 
revered — forms a universal tie of brotherhood, — a 
watchword of our Union." 

" Thus 'mid the wreck of thrones shall live 
Unmarred, undimmed, our hero's fame, 
And years succeeding years shall give 
Increase of honors to his name." 

Things to Remember 

George Washington of Virginia was chosen commander-in-chief 
of the American army in the War of the Revolution. 

He took command at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1 775. His 
headquarters was the mansion afterward the home of the poet 
Longfellow. 

In his conduct of the war Washington showed such great mili- 
tary genius as to command the attention not only of America but 
of all Europe. 

The Revolution ended with the victory of the American army 
at Yorktown in 1781. 

A treaty of peace between England and America was signed in 
Paris in 1783. 

In 1787 a famous convention met at Philadelphia. It framed 



314 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

the Constitution of the United States. This Constitution is still the 
law of our nation. 

Washington was chosen first President of the United States in 
1789. He was reelected President in 1792. 

He showed himself as great in peace as in war, and his services 
as President were as valuable as those rendered his country during 
the Revolution. 

He died at the age of sixty-seven, loved and honored for his 
invaluable help in freeing America from the tyranny of King 
George III, and in enabling her to become a nation respected by 
all Europe. 

Map Work. — a. Locate Fredericksburg, Mount Vernon, Al- 
leghany and Monongahela rivers, Presque Isle, Fort Le Boeuf, 
Venango, P'ort Duquesne, Fort Necessity, h. Locate Boston, 
Brooklyn, New York, the Delaware River, Trenton, Princeton, 
West Point, Brandywine Creek, Philadelphia, Germantown, Valley 
Forge, Yorktown. 

Memory Selection. — - Bryant, " Song of Marion's Men." 



XXV. PHILIP SCHUYLER 

Born 1733 — Died 1804 

God bless the Flag and its loyal defenders, 
While its broad folds o'er the batdefield wave, 

Till the dim star-wreath rekindle its splendors, 
Washed from its stains in the blood of the brave ! 

Holmes's " God save the Flag." 

Washington had many brave generals, but none 
was more noble or more unselfish in his devotion to 
his country than Philip Schuyler. 

Schuyler's Dutch ancestors had come from Am- 
sterdam and settled in Albany, where Philip was 
born. The boy received a good education and be- 
came a rich and influential citizen. When the war 
with England began he owned much valuable prop- 
erty, — hundreds of acres of woodland near Albany, 
and boats on which the timber was carried down the 
Hudson River to New York. He married a descend- 
ant of Killian Van Rensselaer, one of the first 
patroonswho took up a grant of land in the Hudson 
valley. 

Philip Schuyler had many noble qualities, and 
chief among them was patriotism. He fought 
bravely in the French and Indian War. When he 
was sent as one of New York's delegates to the Con- 

315 



3i6 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



tinental Congress, he and Washington became ac- 
quainted and were soon firm friends. 

After the American army had defeated the Brit- 
ish at Trenton and Princeton, there was some doubt 
in Washington's mind as to what the next move 

of the enemy would be. 
At length it became clear. 
"Nothing," thought the 
British, "can be so harm- 
ful to the Yankees as for 
us to get possession of the 
Hudson River. By thus 
controlling New York 
state we can keep the New 
England soldiers from 
joining Washington's 
army." Accordingly, the 
English general, Bur- 
goyne, received orders in 
the summer of 1777 to march his men down from 
Canada by way of Lake Champlain, take Fort Ticon- 
deroga, and proceed to Albany. A second army, 
under Colonel St. Leger, was ordered to start from 
Montreal, ascend the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario, 
capture Fort Stanwix on the Mohawk River, and 
join Burgoyne at Albany; while How^e was to bring 
up a third army from New Jersey. 

If this plan had succeeded, General Washington 
would have been indeed in a bad plight. It failed 




Philip Schuyler 
After the painting by J. Trumbull. 



PHILIP SCHUYLER 



317 



because of the foresight, zeal, and heroism of the 
American commanders, and particularly because of 
the skillful manner in which Philip Schuyler con- 
trolled the army in New York. 

General Howe, who had had desperate fighting 
against Washington in New Jersey, began to have 
considerable 
respect for 
the "farmer" 
soldiers; but 




Map of New York, 
New Jersey, and 
Pennsylvania 

Burgoyne, though brave, was boastful. He declared, 
" If the king will give me ten thousand men, I will 
promenade through America." 

King George quickly granted this request. Ten 
thousand men were furnished, — some English, 
many Hessians, or Germans, whom the English 



3i8 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

hired to fight for them, and Indians who had been 
won to the British side. Popular feeUng against the 
war was so strong in England that there was 
difficulty in getting enough native-born soldiers to 
send to America, so Germans were paid to serve in 
the British army. 

Burgoyne's "promenade" started out very well. 
General Schuyler had been strengthening the north- 
ern defenses, and no one dreamed that Fort Ticon- 
deroga would not withstand British attack. But 
it chanced that near the fort there was a high, 
steep hill ; and Burgoyne saw that if he could 
get men and cannon up that hill, he could fire 
down into the fort, and the Americans would be 
helpless. 

Under cover of the night, therefore, he made this 
hard march, and the next morning General St. Clair 
was astonished to find his men at the mercy of the 
English guns. He was obliged to retreat, and has- 
tily abandoning the fort, marched southward. The 
British followed close on his heels, and it was only 
by leaving baggage and ammunition behind him 
that St. Clair managed to escape to Fort Edward 
and join General Schuyler. 

Burgoyne was so jubilant over this victory that 
he triumphantly sent the news to England. When 
the king received it, he rushed into the queen's apart- 
ment and cried, "I have beat them! I have beat all 
the Americans!" 



PHILIP SCHUYLER 



319 



But, unfortunately for the king, all the Americans 
were not at Ticonderoga. To be sure, Burgoyne 
had not far to march to reach Albany, where he 
expected to join the other two divisions of the Eng- 
lish army, and o-ive the kinor still further cause for 




Fort Ticonderoga 

rejoicing. But General Schuyler resolved to make 
this march the hardest of Burgoyne's life. 

Only one road led through the forest, and the 
Americans fell to work with a will to make it 
impassable. Schuyler had only a few thousand 
soldiers at Fort Edward; but provided with axes, 
spades, and torches, they worked night and day. 
They chopped down hundreds of trees so that they 
fell directly across the road. Fifty bridges were 
destroyed. Streams were dammed so that the water 



320 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

overflowed the banks, and made the ground so 
swampy that the EngHsh could not cross with heavy 
cannon. For miles on either side of the road all 
cattle and provisions of every kind were put out of 
reach of the British; for Burgoyne was depending 
upon the resources of the country to feed his army 
as he marched. 

The Americans worked in desperation, goaded on 
not alone by the defeat of Fort Ticonderoga, but 
by the horrible outrages committed by the Indians 
with the English army. Jenny McCrea, the beauti- 
ful daughter of a clergyman, had recently been seized 
and cruelly murdered by a party of Indians, and the 
country rang with the news of this and other such 
hideous deeds. 

Schuyler's men had indeed made a hard "prom- 
enade " for Burgoyne. It took him twenty days to 
cover twenty-four miles. Footsore, hungry, and ex- 
hausted, the British at last reached Fort Edward. 
And what did they find? Not an American in the 
fort, not a pound of powder or shot ! The wary 
Schuyler had by this time crossed the Hudson and 
pitched his tents at Saratoga. Every day that he 
could delay British attack meant just so much gain, 
for Washington was hurrying troops to his aid. 

Burgoyne was now sadly in need of ammunition. 
He therefore chose about a thousand of his men, 
mostly Hessians and Indians, and sent them to 
Bennington, where he had heard the Yankees had a 



PHILIP SCHUYLER 



321 



large supply of military stores. But Colonel John 
Stark and his stalwart "Green Mountain Boys" were 
carefully guarding Bennington. Stark had fought 
in the French and Indian War, at Bunker Hill, 
Trenton, and Princeton. He was considered one of 
the best officers in the 
American army. 

When news came 
that the English were 
marching toward 
Bennington, men and 
boys armed them- 
selves with whatever 
weapons they could 
find and started for 
Stark's camp. They 
carried with them 
pewter spoons, plates, 
and porringers to be 
melted into bullets. 
On the morning be- 
fore the fight it is said that General Stark n^ounted 
a rail fence and thus addressed his soldiers : " My 
men, we are about to fight the Hessians and Indians. 
The English pay the Hessians seven pounds ten- 
pence a man. If you are worth more, prove it!" 

For two hours the battle raged. The Americans 
had one rusty old cannon which they had dragged 
for miles on the wheels of a cart. When the cannon 




The Rally of the People 

From the bas-relief by Markham, on the 

monument at Saratoga. 




322 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

balls gave out, they loaded it with stones. So furi- 
ous was the attack that the Indians in terror fled 
screaming to the woods. The Hessians were either 
shot down or taken prisoners. Less than one hun- 
dred men returned of the thousand Burgoyne had 

sent out. " The woods are 
full of Yankees ! The woods 
are full of Yankees!" shouted 
the few half-crazed Indians 
who finally made their way 
back to the British camp. 

Flag of the United Colo- T^js waS not the Only bit- 

NIES, 1775-1777 ,. . . 

ter disapponitment m store 
for Burgoyne. St. Leger's wing of the army had 
advanced from Oswego through the wilderness as 
far as Oriskany, when it was met by American 
troops under brave old General Herkimer on their 
way to Fort Stanwix. The opposing forces fought 
in deadly battle. General Herkimer was shot and 
mortally wounded; but he refused to leave the field, 
or even to rest. He ordered the saddle to be taken 
from his dead horse and placed at the foot of a tree. 
Then he sat down, coolly lighted his pipe, and con- 
tinued to direct and cheer his men until the British 
were driven back in confusion. 

This happened in August, 1777, the very year in 
which Congress chose the stars and stripes for our 
country's flag. After the battle of Oriskany the new 
national banner of red, white, and blue was flung to 




PHILIP SCHUYLER 323 

the breeze for the first time, over Fort Stanwix. It 
had been made of such materials as were at hand, — 
a red flannel skirt which a soldier's wife gladly gave, 
a white shirt, and an old blue jacket. Nevertheless, 
it proudly waved, and the sight angered St. Leger as 
a red rag angers a bull. He vowed 
that he would carry the flag away 
with him or die in the attempt. 

But General Schuyler was just 
as determined that the precious 
emblem should not leave the fort. 
When news of the ficrht at Oris- 

o 

kany reached him at his camp, he X^' 
called his officers and asked who ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ 
would volunteer to march w^ith a united States 
relief force to Fort Stanwix. "I Adopted by Congress in 
will," quickly replied Benedict Ar- 
nold. " General Washington sent me here to make 
myself of use. I will go." The drum beat its call 
for volunteers, and more than a thousand men 
responded. When Arnold's regiment was within 
twenty miles of Fort Stanwix, some Tory spies were 
captured, among them a half-witted fellow named 
Yan Yost. Then Arnold determined to make use 
of a trick in the hope of frightening St. Leger's 
army. First he condemned Yan Yost to death for 
treason ; and when the boy's mother and brother 
pleaded for his life, Arnold promised to release him 
on certain conditions. Yan was to take off his coat 



324 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

and have it shot full of bullet holes ; then he was to 
run to St. Leger's camp and tell the English that 
thousands of American soldiers were approaching. 
" If you will do that," said Arnold, " and then come 
back here, you and your mother and brother may 
go free." 

The trick worked perfectly. When St. Leger 
saw the breathless boy and heard his story, he asked 
how many Americans were marching toward him. 
The lad pointed to the countless leaves of the trees 
overhead, and St. Leger waited no longer to capture 
the American flag. Believing that Schuyler's whole 
army was near, he fled toward Canada in such haste 
that tents, powder, and cannon fell into Arnold's 
hands. 

Burgoyne was now in a very dangerous position. 
Howe was to have joined him from New Jersey, but 
he had been prevented by General Washington. St. 
Leger, who had marched his men do\vn from Canada 
to crush the Americans, was now swiftly marching 
them back again. On all sides American regiments 
were cutting off Burgoyne's retreat to Canada. His 
men were in sore need of provisions. He must push 
on toward Albany with all speed. 

Sad to say. General Schuyler was not to command 
the colonial forces long. In those dark days when 
most Americans thought only of saving their country, 
there were still a few who cared but for themselves and 
their own glory. General Gates was one of these. 



PHILIP SCHUYLER 



325 



He was jealous of Washington's confidence in Schuy- 
ler, and he managed to have Congress appoint him- 
self to Schuyler's place. But Philip Schuyler was 
one of those noble souls who would not allow a 
personal injury to stand in the way of his duty to 
his countrymen. Though forced 
to give up his command, he kept 
at work. Arnold, too, came in for 
a share of Gates's jealousy, and 
was compelled to leave his regi- 
ment. 

Burgoyne marched as rapidly as 
possible toward Albany, and met the 
American army at Bemis Heights. 
A battle w^as fought that lasted sev- 
eral hours, but neither side could 
claim victory. For more than a 
fortnight afterward, the two armies 
lay at Stillwater watching each other, like two tigers 
ready to spring. 

On the morning of October 17, 1777, began the 
battle of Saratoga, the first decisive victory of the 
war. Arnold stood impatiently watching his gallant 
troops until he could bear his inactivity no longer. 
Jumping on his horse, he galloped into the thick of 
the fight. The sight of their old commander cheered 
his comrades to greater efforts. Fiercely the battle 
raged, and at last the English were driven from the 
field. Brave General Morgran shared with Arnold 




An American Sol- 
dier IN 1777 



326 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

the glory of this American victory. Gates was not 
even on the field. 

A bullet entered Arnold's leg, and his horse was 
killed under him. It would have been better had 
he died in that moment of triumph. Afterward, 
when he had turned traitor, he captured an American 
officer. " What would happen to me if I were 



fl 


m 






^n 


m 






^^"^^p 










m 


^'W 


W'^' 


^^^^^l 




|,^**^,-^.;; .^^: 


"-^'^Tsi* 



The Surrender of Burgoyne, Saratoga 

caught?" asked the unhappy Arnold. Quickly the 
officer replied : " Your lame leg, wounded at Sara- 
toga, would be cut off and buried with the honors of 
war. The rest of your body would be hanged." 

Nothing but surrender was left to the proud Bur- 
goyne. Six thousand of his men were taken pris- 
oners, and great quantities of ammunition fell into 
the hands of the Americans. When news of the 
battle of Saratoga was carried across the water, many 



PHILIP SCHUYLER 327 

people in Great Britain were glad to hear of Bur- 
goyne's defeat, for they thought the king had done 
wrong to bring on war with his colonies. William 
Pitt, always America's true friend, rgse in Parliament 
and said: " My lords, you cannot conquer America. 
And if I were an American, while a foreign troop 
was landed in my country, I would never lay down 
my arms — never — never — never!" Commission- 
ers were sent to America to try to make peace, but 
England was not yet willing to give the colonists 
their independence. 

The welcome news of Saratoga reached the Ameri- 
can soldiers in that hard winter at Valley Forge. 
And when France heard of it, she said : " Benjamin 
Franklin is right. These raw American soldiers can 
defeat English regulars. They deserve our help." 

Under the stars and stripes that had so lately kin- 
dled St. Leger's indignation, the Americans had 
marched to victory. Everybody knew that this 
triumph belonged not to Gates but to Schuyler, 
Morgan, and Arnold. In this moment of general 
rejoicing Schuyler did not forget the suffering of the 
English. He understood the hardships they had 
passed through, and how much they needed food and 
care. He saw to it that they were treated with every 
kindness that a humane victor can bestow upon un- 
happy prisoners. 

After the battle of Saratoga Schuyler retired from 
active military life ; but in other ways he continued 



S2S FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

to serve his country as long as it had need of him. 
For years he was a member of Congress, and was 
often summoned from his duties there to consult with 
Washington in regard to plans for carrying on the 
war. In no one of his counselors did the com- 
mander in chief feel more confidence than in Schuy- 
ler. The great Daniel Webster once declared that 
Philip Schuyler stood not far below Washington in 
the service he rendered his country. After the war 
was over and Washington was serving as President, 
Schuyler became of further aid. He was made 
su^veyor general and took an active part in settling 
disputes with the Indians. 

Schuyler was one of the first to propose building 
a canal in New York state that should connect the 
waters of the Great Lakes wirh the Hudson River. 
He subscribed generously from his large fortune for 
the support of Union College at Schenectady. His 
fine old mansion at Albany was celebrated for its 
hospitality. Franklin and Lafayette were among 
the many distinguished men who were entertained 
within its walls. 

General Schuyler died in his seventy-second year, 
and was buried in the Albany Rural Cemetery 
with military honors. His grave is marked with a 
tall granite column. All honor to the memory of 
the man who, while smarting under the sting of 
unjust treatment, was great enough to say, " My 
country before everything." 



I 



PHILIP SCHUYLER 



329 



Things to Remember 

General Philip Schuyler of New York was chiefly responsible 
for the first decisive American victory of the Revolution. This 
was the battle of Saratoga and was fought in the year 1777. 

The battle of Saratoga was one of the most important battles 
in history. It encouraged the Americans to continue the struggle 
for independence, and discouraged the English to such an extent 
that they were ready to talk of a treaty of peace. 

It showed France that Americans had great military skill, and 
led her to yield to Frankhn's request for help. 

MaJ> Work. — Locate Montreal, Lake Champlain, Lake George, 
Ticonderoga, Bennington, Fort Edward, Bemis Heights, Stillwater, 
Oswego, Fort Stanwix, Oriskany. 




General Schuyler's Home in Albany 



I 



XXVI. NATHANAEL GREENE 

Born 1742 — Died 1786 

Sleep, soldiers ! still in honored rest, 

Your truth and valor wearing ; 
The bravest are the tenderest — 

The loving are the daring. 

— Taylor's " A Song of the Camp." 

The principle for which the Americans were fight^ 
ing was such an important one that even a Quaker 
who hated war would often turn soldier. Nathanael 
Greene was born and brought up in Rhode Island, 
where his father and grandfather had led the quiet 
life of the Friends. Perhaps the very air of freedom 
that Nathanael breathed in that colony, founded 
by liberty-loving Roger Williams, made him more 
ready to fight for the independence of America. 

The young Quaker grew up a strong boy, indus- 
trious, self-reliant, fond of athletics, and able to sur- 
pass m.ost of his playmates in outdoor sports. He 
loved books, also, and urged his father to provide 
better teachers for him than were to be found in the 
little Quaker community of Warwick. 

He worked in his father's fields, the mill, and 
blacksmith shop. He read, studied, and played 
whenever he could. 

330 



NATHANAEL GREENE 



331 



Greene was always kind and gentle, but he was 
also firm in his own convictions. When eighteen 
years old, he visited New York at a time when 
many people had the smallpox. He insisted upon 
being vaccinated, though vaccination was then for- 
bidden by law in Rhode 
Island and Massachusetts, 
and the prejudice against 
it was very strong. Young 
Greene's friends were as- 
tonished, but he was will- 
ing to think for himself 
and to take the conse- 
quences. Not long after- 
ward his father became 
involved in a lawsuit, so 
the youth promptly set 
himself to the study of 
law, — another instance of his eagerness to prepare 
for any emergency. 

It is not surprising, therefore, that w^hen the 
war clouds began to gather Nathanael should have 
turned his attention to military matters. From the 
best books he obtained a knowledge of war that was 
soon put into practice. 

A bitter disappointment threatened him at the 
beginning of his career. When his friends and 
neighbors formed a company for military drill, a 
slight limp in his walk was at first thought to un- 




Nathanael Greene 



332 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

fit him for service. It would have been a sad mis- 
take if he had been left out, for no other of the 
" Kentish Guards," as the company called itself, ever 
became so famous a soldier as Nathanael Greene. 

Greene was only a private when he entered the 
ranks, but he began to work at once for his com- 
pany. He drove to Boston, purchased a musket, 
and hid it under straw in the bottom of the wagon, 
that the Tories might not see it. Also, he suc- 
ceeded in bringing back, as drillmaster for the 
" Guards," a trained English soldier who had come 
over to the American side. 

Greene quickly rose from the ranks. When news 
of the battle of Bunker Hill reached Rhode Island, 
three regiments were quickly raised to march to the 
scene of trouble. Nathanael Greene was chosen 
brigadier general of this little band. He led his 
troops to Boston, and when Washington arrived at 
Cambridge, Greene was selected as the officer to 
welcome the new commander-in-chief. 

The young Quaker was placed in charge of a 
brigade at Dorchester Heights, and had the pleas- 
ure of seeing the English march out of Boston. 
General Washington soon discovered that Greene 
was a valuable man and made him major general in 
the regular army, where he did good service in New 
York and New Jersey. 

The British, defeated in both of these states in 
1776 and 1777, turned their attention to the South. 



NATHANAEL GREENE 



333 



They had captured Savannah and Augusta, and 
restored the royal governor in place of the one that 
the colonists had chosen. In addition to this, Sir 
Henry Clinton had brought his redcoats down 




The Siege of Charleston 

from New York, and had driven the American army 
out of Charleston. 

As they now held possession of Georgia and 
South Carolina, it was an easy matter for the Eng- 
lish to get by water all the supplies of food and am- 
munition that they needed. They were thus saved 
the trouble of carrying them over land. 

This condition of things in the South caused 
Washington great anxiety, and he desired to send 
General Greene to take command of the southern 
forces. But Gates, who had tried to steal Schuyler's 



334 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

victory at Saratoga, was still influential with Con- 
gress, which forced Washington to send Gates, in- 
stead of Greene. This was in the winter of 1780. 

The country paid dearly for this interference 
with Washington's plans. Gates mismanaged every- 
thing that he undertook. In the battle of Camden, 
in what was perhaps the worst American defeat of 
the war, Gates's troops were almost entirely de- 
stroyed. He himself acknowledged that he was 
left with "only the shadow of an army." 

Something must be done, and Washington now 
hurried Greene to the scene of disaster. In the 
meantime, all over the mountainous country of the 
Carolinas, men formed themselves into little bands 
to defend their homes against the raids of the Brit- 
ish soldiers. Parties of redcoats roamed over the 
hills, plundered and burned houses, and murdered 
the inhabitants. 

General Francis Marion, the " Swamp Fox," came 
to be looked upon as the leader of these mountain- 
eers. He knew every foot of the country, was fear- 
less %nd untiring. He and his comrades were 
poorly clad, and were often without blankets to 
sleep in. They frequently had little to eat, but 
they never complained. 

While the main Eno^lish armv under Cornwallis 
was resting after its defeat of Gates, Major Ferguson 
was sent out with twelve hundred men, under orders 
to " scour the country for provisions and frighten 



NATHANAEL GREENE 



335 



the Inhabitants into coming over to the Tory side." 
He was then to join Cornwallis in North Carolina. 

But this mission was not so easy to accomplish 
as Cornwallis had expected. News soon reached 
Ferguson that bands of hardy mountaineers were on 
his trail. Thick 
and fast they 
gathered round 
him, clad in 
homespun gar- 
ments and 
armed with long 
rifles and hunt- 
ing knives. 

It was not 
long before Fer- 
guson and his 
soldiers 
fleeing 
these 

backwoods- 
men. On a 
steep hill, 



were 

before 

daring 




Francis Marion 
* 

known as Kings Mountain, the British intrenched 
themselves. The sides of the mountain were cov- 
ered with forest trees and gigantic bowlders. But 
nothing could daunt the Americans In pursuit. 
They separated into three divisions which climbed 
the mountain at the same time, each from a different 



336 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

direction. Attacked on all sides, Ferguson's men 
were soon beaten. He himself rode boldly among 
his troops, trying in vain to rally his terrified soldiers. 
At last he was shot from his white horse, and the 
animal galloped, riderless, down the steep hillside. 
The English hoisted the white flag of surrender. 

The winter of 1780 had been one of terrible suf- 
fering to the American troops, — perhaps the hardest 
of the seven long years of war, — but the victory of 
Kings Mountain gave them fresh courage. The 
soldiers were thoroughly disheartened. They 
lacked sufficient food and clothing, and many 
were ill. After his defeat at Camden, Gates had 
been unable to control his men. 

Such was the wretched condition of the southern 
forces when General Greene took command. Out 
of Gates's entire army there were left only about 
two thousand men, and less than half that number 
were able to fight. There was no money and only 
a few days' provisions. Encamped not far away, lay 
an army of over three thousand well-fed, well-clothed, 
victorious British troops. 

You can ♦readily see how much work there was 
for Nathanael Greene to do. The slight limp that 
so nearly kept him out of the ranks was lost sight of 
now. Cool judgment, kindness, patience, energy, 
hopefulness — these were the qualities that counted 
in this crisis. 

He set to work with a will, and soon won the 



NATHANAEL GREENE 



337 



respect and affection of the troops. He contrived to 
get better food for them and to make every one 
more comfortable. Gradually he brought back the 
old spirit of self-reliance and hope. 

No one knew better than the commander in chief 
how hard a problem Greene had before him, and 
able men were sent to his aid — Daniel Morgan, the 
"sharpshooter," William Washington, and Henry 
Lee, who was known as " Light-horse Harry." 

At Cowpens, in January, 1781, a division of 
Greene's army under Morgan met the English 
troops under the famous General Tarleton. With 
a much smaller army Morgan won the day. At 
last our soldiers in the South had reason to take 
courage. At Spartanburg, in South Carolina, a 
large town seven miles from Cowpens, is a tall 
monument and on its top a bronze figure. The in- 
scription reads : — 

" To the American Soldiers, who, on the Field of 
Cowpens, January 17, 1781, fought victoriously 
for the right of Self-government and Civil Liberty. 
The unanimous resolve of the Congress of the United 
States crowns this memorial column with the form 
and face of General Daniel Morgan, the hero of 
Cowpens, who, on that field, was victorious 
in the great cause of American independence." 

Cornwallis, the head of the English army in 
the South, was furious when he heard of Tarle- 
ton's defeat. The " hero of Cowpens " knew per- 
fectly well that Cornwallis would send a fresh 



33^ FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

force against him. Morgan felt that his tired men 
were not strong enough to win a second battle, so 
he lost no time in making a retreat. 

At dusk his army crossed the Catawba River. 
Hot in pursuit, the English soldiers reached this 
stream a few hours later, but rather than risk cross- 
ing it in the dark they waited until morning. A 
heavy rain fell during the night. The water rose 
rapidly, and the enemy were so delayed that Morgan 
was able to reach Greene's army in safety. 

General Greene saw that it would not be safe for 
his men to attempt to fight again while they were 
in such a weak condition. So he began the famous 
retreat that ended in American victory. 

This retreat was thought out with great care and 
skill. By the most clever planning he brought both 
divisions of his little army safely together at Guil- 
ford, where he expected that fresh troops from Vir- 
ginia would await him. 

But these regiments had not yet arrived, so Greene 
continued his retreat toward them. If only he could 
manage to get across the river Dan and into Vir- 
ginia before Cornwallis could overtake him ! It was 
a weary march, but the hardships were patiently en- 
dured. Week after week he marched his little band 
from point to point — -over hills and across streams 
that, for lack of bridges or boats, had to be forded. 
Nor did he dare to forget for an instant the danger- 
ous game he was playing with Cornwallis. 



NATHANAEL GREENE 



339 



One night, after a long ride in a drenching rain, 
Greene ahghted at a little inn in Salisbury. In 
reply to a question the weary general said, " Yes, 
I am hungry, tired, penniless, and alone." The land- 
lord's wife overheard the remark. In a short time a 




Thk Lax 



hot supper was placed before the hungry soldier. 
Then, handing him two little bags of silver that she 
had managed to save, the good woman said, " Take 
these; you will want them, and I can do without 
them." This spirit of sacrifice on the part of the 
men and women of America was the only thing 
that made it possible to carry on the war. 

At last the Dan was safely crossed. Greene had 
arranged many days in advance for boats to carry 
his men over, but when the pursuing British troops 



340 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

reached the shore, they could find no way of getting 
to the opposite bank. For two hundred miles Corn- 
wallis had followed close on the heels of his enemies, 
but now he was obliged to halt. 

As soon as the Americans were rested and re- 
enforced by the Virginia troops, Greene recrossed 
the river, and at Guilford Court House, on March 
15, he fought a battle with Cornwallis. Though 
the English claimed a victory, they were so worn 
out that they retired to Wilmington. 

General Greene now began another rapid march to 
the South. He wrote Washington : " I am determined 
to carry the war into South Carolina. The enemy 
will be obliged to follow us, or give up the posts 
in that state." His plan was to cut Cornwallis off 
from the English army at Charleston, and thus pre- 
vent his getting the much-needed food and supplies. 

Greene was completely successful. One after an- 
other the British forts in South Carolina were cap- 
tured. " We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again," 
wrote Greene. The English began to despair — 
the Americans to triumph. 

At the battle of Eutaw Springs the Americans 
won a great victory. The enemy was pursued by 
the regiments of Generals Marion and Lee for 
more than twenty-five miles, and over half of the 
English army was lost. 

Greene had done what he set out to do. He 
had driven the British out of North and South 



NATHAN AEL GREENE 341 

Carolina into Virginia. We have already learned 
how Cornwallis was forced to shut himself up in 
Yorktown, and how Washington marched his army- 
down from New York and compelled his surrender. 

Few of the world's great soldiers ever accom- 
plished such wonderful work with so small an army 
as did Nathanael Greene in the southern states. 
Next to Washington he was the greatest general of 
the Revolutionary War. 

All along the line of Greene's homeward march 
honors were heaped upon him. Congress gave him 
a vote of thanks, and the grateful state of Georgia 
presented him with a plantation at Mulberry Grove. 
Here, two years after peace was declared, General 
Greene brought his wife to live. 

This great soldier, who had endured so many 
hardships in war, died from the effects of sunstroke 
at the age of forty-four. The whole country mourned 
his loss, and statues stand in public parks to the 
memory of " the man who saved the South." 

Things to Remember 

Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island, next to Washington, was 
the greatest general of the Revolutionary War. 

His ability saved the American army in the South when it had 
been almost entirely destroyed. 

He drove the British out of North and South Carolina into 
Virginia, and made it possible to end the war. 

Map Work, — Locate Savannah, Charleston, Camden, Kings 
Mountain, Cowpens, Guilford Court House, Wilmington, N.C, 
Yorktown. (See map, page 15.) 



XXVII. JOHN PAUL JONES 

Born 1747 — Died 1792 

Bright flag at yonder tapering mast, 

Fling out your field of azure blue ; 
Let star and stripe be westward cast, 

And point as Freedom's eagle flew. 
Strain home ! O lithe and quivering spars ! 
Point home ! my country's flag of stars ! 

— Willis's " Going Home." 

America is to-day proud of her navy. When the 
great battle ships come together for review in New 
York harbor, or at Hampton Roads, or at the Golden 
Gate, thousands enjoy the magnificent sight. How 
bold and powerful they look, those giants of the sea, 
as they ride on the dancing water. 

Yet, at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, 
America was quite at the mercy of England on the 
sea. The only vessels that the colonists owned were 
schooners and sloops that had been built for fish- 
ing or for trading along the coast. 

As soon as war became certain, the Americans 
knew they must have war-ships, and they began to 
build them as fast as they could. But money was 
scarce. The colonists could not build and equip a 
navy equal to England's, wdiich was the strongest 
navy of all Europe. 

342 



JOHN PAUL JONES 



343 



But if large ships and heavy guns were not to be 
had, there was no lack of brave men who dared to 
put to sea in small boats to capture English ships. 
Among these men was Paul Jones, who became the 
first great naval hero in American history. 

Paul Jones was the son of a Scotch gardener. 
He spent his childhood in a little fishing village in 
Scotland, where he learned 
to steer a boat, to haul a fish- 
ing line, and to love the 
ocean. At twelve years of 
age he was as strong and as 
well able to care for himself 
as most youths of sixteen ; 
so his father yielded to his 
desire to go to sea. 

Nothing could exceed the Paul jones 

joy of young Paul when, in After the etching by a. Varen. 

1759, he left England as "shipmasters appren- 
tice " on board the Friendship. This vessel was 
bound for Virginia and the West Indies. Now 
not only would Paul realize his dream of life on the 
ocean, but he could also visit his older brother 
William, who had settled in America. 

William Jones wished Paul to remain on the Vir- 
ginia plantation, but the boy could not be coaxed 
into giving up a seafaring life. For seven years he 
sailed on the Friendship ; then he became part owner 
of a vessel engaged in trade with the West Indies. 




..-_„_J 



344 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



From this time on young Paul succeeded in every- 
thing that he undertook. He made a great deal of 
money, but that alone did not satisfy him. He 

studied hard, learned 



/P"^ to speak French and 




A Virginia Mansion Party 



managed to make 
friends with the best 
people in all the 
ports at which he 
touched. 

When William 
Jones died, Paul, then 
twenty-six years old, 
was at last willing 
to try life on the Vir- 
ginia estate. At 
that time he was 
well known to all the families of wealth and fashion 
living at colonial ports from New York to Charles- 
ton, and the old mansion which he had inherited at 
once opened its hospitable doors to the gay society 
of Virginia. 

He also began to take an active part in the more 
serious affairs which concerned his country. He 
became deeply interested in the questions then on 
all lips, "What will the British do next?" "What 
ought we to do ? " He attended the Virginia legis- 
lature and heard Patrick Henry's great speeches, and 



JOHN PAUL JONES 



345 



he made the acquaintance of Washington and Thomas 
Jefferson. " If you ever need my services on the 
sea, I am ready," said Paul Jones to these leaders of 
the Revolution. 

When the colonists began to collect their largest 
boats into something that could be called a navy, 
Jones was made a first lieutenant. His Virginia 
friends had tried hard to have him appointed captain. 
When told that instead of being captain he was only 
a first lieutenant, he manfully replied : " I am here 
to serve the cause of human rights ; not to promote 
the fortunes of Paul Jones." 

The first squadron of our little navy consisted of 
four ships, and of these the 
first to be made ready was 
the Alfred. From the mast- 
head of this vessel Paul Jones 
flung out the first American 
flag that ever flew from a 
war-ship. Our beautiful stars 
and stripes had not yet been 
adopted. Jones's flag was of yellow silk, with a pine 
tree, and a rattlesnake coiled at the roots, and bore 
the motto, " Don't tread on me ! " 

The little fleet set sail in February, 1776, for Fort 
Nassau, on one of the Bahama Islands, and succeeded 
in capturing four small English boats, with cannon 
and other military stores. But the most important 
result was that it convinced the colonists that Paul 




Paul Jones's Flag 



346 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Jones was a man to command a vessel. This short 
cruise was the last he ever made when he was not in 
charge himself. 

He was given command of the Providejtce, and 
cruised along the coast from Bermuda to Nova 
Scotia. In six weeks he captured sixteen English 
boats and burned three fishing smacks, put ashore 
at a Nova Scotia port and freed several Americans 
whom the English held prisoners, and brought back 
a boat loaded with salt fish. He considered this a 
good six weeks' work. 

Sad news greeted him when he returned from this 
eventful trip. A party of English and American 
Tories, under Lord Dunmore, had completely ruined 
Jones's Virginia plantation. They had burned the 
buildings, killed the stock, destroyed fruit trees and 
crops, and carried off all his slaves. 

But Paul Jones could be a hero under all circum- 
stances. " This is a part of the fortunes of war," he 
calmly said, when told what had happened. " I 
accept the animosity of Lord Dunmore as a com- 
pliment to my devotion to the cause of liberty. I 
have now no fortune left but my sword." 

Not long after this. Congress summoned Jones to 
Philadelphia for his advice on naval matters. The 
victorious young captain proposed such a daring 
scheme that it startled all the members. " It is not 
enough," said he, " that we chase and capture English 
vessels on our own coast. We must cross the ocean 
and fight the English in their own waters.'* 



JOHN PAUL JONES 347 

About this time Lafayette arrived from France, 
determined to help the Americans in their fight for 
liberty. He told the colonists that Captain Jones 
was right; that to attack the English in English 
waters would show them that it was not alone in 
America that Americans were to be feared. 

At length the plan was agreed to, and Jones was 
given a new ship, the Ranger. The very day on 
which Congress adopted our flag, June 14, 1777, 
the command of the Ranger was given to Captain 
Paul Jones. " That flag and I are twins," said 
Jones. " We cannot be parted in life or in death. 
So long as we can float we shall float together. 
If we must sink, we shall go down as one." 

The young women of Portsmouth, New Hamp- 
shire, where the Ranger was built, set to work to 
make a flag for Captain Jones's vessel. They cut 
up their best silk gowns for the red, white, and blue 
stripes, and the thirteen white stars were made from 
the bridal dress of a girl who had just married an 
army officer. As we follow Paul Jones's fortunes, 
we shall learn the history of this flag. 

Captain Jones received orders to have his ship in 
readiness to set sail for France at a moment's notice. 
Congress was breathlessly awaiting news from New 
York state. Would Burgoyne succeed, or would 
General Schuyler's carefully laid schemes end in 
the defeat of the British '^. At last the joyful news 
arrived. Burgoyne had surrendered at Saratoga. 



348 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Horsemen galloped with the tidings in every 
direction, riding day and night, eating their meals 
in the saddle, stopping not a moment for storms. 
On the sea, the Ranger^ with every inch of sail 
straining in the wind, was flying to France to carry 
the news to that friendly nation. Never before had 
the sailors on board the Ranger had such a wild 
passage as this. Captain Jones was himself on 
deck from eighteen to twenty hours out of every 
twenty-four. In little more than thirty days the 
Ranoer anchored in the river Loire. As she sailed 
into port, flying the new American stars and stripes, 
the French vessels welcomed her with a salute of 
guns. Thus it happened that the flag made of the 
dresses of the Portsmouth young women was the 
first American flag ever saluted by the guns of an 
European navy. 

With all possible speed Jones hastened to Paris, 
and placed in the hands of Benjamin Franklin the 
important dispatches from Washington and Jeffer- 
son. 

Captain Jones had hoped to procure in France a 
vessel larger than the little Rmiger, but in this he 
was disappointed. So, determined to make up in 
daring what he lacked in size, he put out from the 
French coast. He had one or two successful en- 
counters with the English at small ports ; then he 
met the Drake, a British sloop-of-war, in the Irish 
Channel. 



JOHN PAUL JONES 349 

" What ship is this ? " asked the Drake. 

" The American Continental ship Ranger !' was 
the reply. " Come on ; we are waiting for you." 

A fierce battle followed. The Drake was much 
larger than the Ranger, and carried more guns, but 
it did not have a genius like Paul Jones in com- 
mand. At the end of an hour the crippled Drake 
surrendered. Thus the little Ranger was the first 
American vessel to cross the ocean and capture 
an enemy. It was a great blow to England's pride 
to find that one of her war sloops could be beaten 
by a smaller boat belonging to the " Yankee " navy. 

Captain Jones and his men tow^ed their prize to 
France. The French king could scarcely believe 
that the little Ranger had accomplished so much. 
As his country was about to engage again in war 
with England, he thought it would be wise to help 
the Americans as much as possible. So it came 
about that a larger vessel was given to Jones by 
order of King Louis XVI. 

Benjamin Franklin had taken a great liking to 
the young naval hero, while Jones felt for Franklin 
the respect and affection of a son. The captain 
loved to talk with the good doctor, and to read his 
" Poor Richard's Almanac." " This book," said 
Jones, " helped to keep up my courage, and make 
me persevere in my endeavor to get a ship from the 
French king." In honor of Dr. Franklin, therefore, 
and of " Poor Richard," Paul Jones named his 



350 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

French boat, Le Bon Homme Richard, or Good Man 
Richard. 

With four smaller ships in his squadron, Jones 
set sail in the Richard, flying the flag that had 
come overseas on the Ranger. In the naval 
history of the world there is nothing to equal the 
glorious victory of this small fleet. " Paul Jones," 




Engagement between "Le Bon Homme Richard' 

AND the " SeRAPIS " 

said an English writer, " succeeded in alarming and 
insulting our coasts with a contemptible little 
squadron more than the whole navy of France had 
been able to do." 

Jones soon seized two English vessels. Then he 
won his greatest victory. The Richard met the 
British ship Serapis on the evening of September 
23^ 1779- At first the English commander thought 
that he had to deal with a French man-of-war, but 



JOHN PAUL JONES 351 

with the aid of a glass he made out that it was a 
stranger. " It is probably Paul Jones," he re- 
marked. " If so, there is work ahead." 

There was indeed work ahead ; for from seven 
o'clock until eleven the battle raged. The thunder 
of cannon and the sharp report of muskets rang out 
on the night air. There was little wind and the 
sea was calm. The moon shone so bright that it 
was almost as light as day. Wherever the firing 
was hottest Jones was to be seen, giving his com- 
mands in English and in French, for part of his 
crew were Frenchmen ; cheering forward his men, 
now in one language, now in the other. " When 
Commodore Jones sprang on the quarter-deck," said 
one of his sailors afterwards, " every one who saw his 
example or heard his voice became as much a hero 
as himself. The commodore had but to look at a 
man to make him brave." 

Hour after hour passed in the smoke and confu- 
sion of battle. At one time it seemed as if the 
Richard could no longer withstand the terrific fire 
of the enemy's guns. " Are you willing to sur- 
render?" shouted the English captain. Little did 
he know the grim determination of Paul Jones, who 
had resolved to win this battle or go down with his 
ship. In a steady voice Jones called back: " I have 
only just begun to fight ! " 

Both ships were now on fire, and the men at the 
pumps were working with all their might to keep 



352 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

the flames under control. At last, by the greatest 
skill and daring, Jones brought the Richard along- 
side the Serapis, and with his own hands lashed the 




John Paul Jones boarding the " Serapis " 

two ships together. His hat fell overboard. An- 
other was handed him, but he replied: " Never mind 
the hat, boys. I'll fight this out in my scalp." 
Still the cannon boomed, still the muskets did 



JOHN PAUL JONES 353 

their deadly work. Some of the bravest of Jones's 
men now managed to get aboard the Serapis. One 
by one the EngUsh gunners were shot down, and at 
last the brave English commander was forced to 
surrender. 

T\v^ Richard \\2,^ been so terribly damaged that 
she was fast sinking. Jones therefore removed his 
wounded men to the Serapis, and then watched in 
silence and grief the steady settling of the good 
Richard in its watery grave. Slowly, noiselessly, 
her decks strewn with the dead who had fallen in 
battle, Le Bo7i Homme Richard sank from sight. 

" To our dead, I gave the good old ship for their 
coffin," said Captain Jones, " and in her they found 
a sublime sepulcher. The very last that mortal eyes 
ever saw of Le Bon Homme Richard was the defi- 
ant waving of her unconquered flag as she went 
down ! " One of the greatest victories in naval 
history had been won. It is the only time that an 
English war-ship was ever beaten by a vessel not 
more than two thirds its strength. 

Jones succeeded in getting his battered Serapis 
from Flamborough Head to Holland, without being 
overtaken by the English. He then went to France, 
where he became the hero of the hour. King Louis 
presented him with a gold-mounted sword, and when 
he returned Congress gave him a gold medal. The 
American army was cheered and encouraged by 
such splendid support on the sea. 



354 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Jones tried by every means in his power to col- 
lect another squadron. But America was too poor 
to furnish the vessels needed, and France was 
too busy fighting England on her own account. In 
October, 1780, therefore, he brought to America 
the Ariel, loaded with a cargo of arms and ammu- 
nition. 

Paul Jones had now been connected with the 
American navy for a little more than five years, and 
he had become famous not only in his own country 
but throughout Europe. The war ended before the 
gallant captain had a chance to fight another battle. 
Congress showed its confidence in her hero by send- 
ing him to France and to England on matters of 
great importance connected with the government. 

A few years later when Russia was at war with 
the Turks, she asked Paul Jones to serve as rear 
admiral in her navy. He at length consented, but 
declared: "I can never renounce the glorious title of 
citizen of the United States." In this conflict Jones 
gave fresh proof of his ability, but he left the Rus- 
sian navy in broken health. 

Jones was five feet seven inches tall, and of 
slender build. As he lived almost his entire life on 
the sea, his complexion was bronzed. His eyes were 
large, black, and piercing ; his voice, so powerful on 
shipboard, was beautifully soft and musical in 
ordinary conversation. He spent the remainder of 
his life in Paris, where he was greatly esteemed and 



JOHN PAUL JONES 355 

beloved. He was invited to the king's palace, and 
entertained by the nobility. When he died, at the 
early age of forty-five, his death was mourned by 
America and France. " The Father of our Navy " 
was laid to rest in the cemetery for foreign Protes- 
tants in Paris, but his body w^as brought back to this 
country in 1906, and buried with every honor at 
Annapolis. 

Things to Remember 

John Paul Jones was the first great hero of the American 
navy. 

His ship, the Ranger, carried across the ocean, in 1777, the 
first American flag ever saluted by the guns of an European 
navy. 

The French king, desiring to help America defeat England, 
gave Jones a vessel larger than the Ranger. Jones named it Le 
Bon Homme Richard — Good Man Richard. 

Captain Jones's capture of the English Serapis was one of the 
most remarkable victories in the naval history of the world. 

Map Wo7'k. — Locate Nassau, Flamborough Head. 



XXVIII. GILBERT MOTIER DE 
LAFAYETTE 

Born 1757 — Died 1834 

God lives and reigns ! He built and lent 
The heights for Freedom's battlement 
Where floats her flag in triumph still. 

Fold up the banners ! Smelt the guns ! 
Love rules. Her gentler purpose runs. 

— Thompson's " The High Tide at Gettysburg." 

Any one who sacrifices personal pleasure and 
comfort to help those in trouble does a noble 
thing. This is exactly what the young French- 
man, Marquis de Lafayette, did when he came to 
America to help the colonists in their effort to free 
themselves from King George's tyranny. 

Lafayette was the son of an old and honored 
family and heir to a large fortune. He lived a 
happy life, surrounded by luxury, in a chateau that 
nestled among the beautiful hills of France. The 
love of liberty and the desire to help those in need 
were characteristics which he early showed. When 
he was seven or eight years old, the farmers near 
his mountain home complained of a great gray wolf 
that broke into the sheepfold at night and killed the 

356 



GILBERT MOTIER DE LAFAYETTE 



357 




lambs. One day the boy was found roaming alone 
in the forest. " I am looking for that wolf," said he, 
"for I mean to kill it." 
His father died in 
battle a few weeks be- 
fore Lafayette was born, 
and his mother brought 
him up with great care. 
When he was sent to 
Paris to be educated, he 
was presented at court, 
but the pomp and show 
of life among the nobil- 
ity did not attract him. 
He longed for the free- 
dom of the forests, and 
dreamed that he would some day help to make 
life simpler and more independent. That dream 
came true. 

He was only nineteen when he heard of the struggle 
of the American colonists with the mother country. 
" France ought to aid the Americans with money 
and firearms," said the young enthusiast, "and we 
men should help them fight." 

Lafayette never wasted time in talking about a 
thing that needed to be done — he fell to work and 
did it. Instead of remaining at home, contenting 
himself with saying, " What a fine thing it would be 
for some of us to take a hand in that war ! " he 



Marquis de Lafayette 
From a portrait about 1825 



358 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

fitted out a ship at his own expense, and sailed for 
America to offer his services to Congress. 

This had been no easy task, for Lafayette's family 
seriously opposed his going, all except his brave, 
devoted wife, who sympathized with his high pur- 
pose. When the king heard that the brilliant 
Marquis de Lafayette and a number of his friends 
were planning to go to America, he forbade their 
leaving France. So Lafayette was really obliged to 
run aw^ay from his own country, in order to help 
America. He managed to escape from French 
waters without being discovered, and his ship 
anchored off the coast of South Carolina in the 
spring of 1777. 

Washington saw from the first that here was a 
young man after his own heart. The commander 
in chief was a good judge of human nature, and he 
recognized the sincerity, and ability of this French- 
man who was so eager to help the cause of liberty. 
The friendship between these two men is one of 
the most beautiful in history. 

Lafayette was appointed a major general, and 
entered with enthusiasm upon his hard duties. He 
served without pay, and from his own fortune 
furnished clothing and camp outfits for many of the 
poor patriots. He wrote back to France concerning 
the division he commanded : " It is weak in point 
of numbers ; it is almost naked, and I must make 
both clothes and recruits. I do not want to disap- 



GILBERT MOTIER DE LAFAYETTE 359 

point the confidence that the Americans have so 
kindly placed in me." 

His first active service was at the battle of Brandy- 
wine, not many months after his arrival. General 
Howe and Lord Cornwallis, with eighteen thousand 
British troops, advanced upon Philadelphia, then the 
capital of the country. Washington took up his 
position at Chadd's Ford, on Brandywine Creek, 
where a desperate battle was fought. While it was 
at its height, Lafayette saw that the Americans 
were losing ground. He flung himself from his 
horse, and sword in hand rushed forward, cheering 
the soldiers on to still greater effort. A British 
bullet wounded him in the leg, so that he had to 
remount his horse, but he would not leave the front 
of battle. Washington's army, however, was no 
match in numbers for the British, and the Americans 
were finally driven back. 

On the battlefield of Brandywine a monument 
has been erected by the citizens and school children 
of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and the inscrip- 
tion reads: " On the rising ground, a short distance 
south of this spot, Lafayette was wounded at the 
battle of Brandywine, September ii, 1777." 

" The honor to have mingled my blood with that 
of many other American soldiers on the heights of 
the Brandywine," said Lafayette, " has been to me a 
source of pride and delight." 

Not a soldier in the whole American army re- 



36o FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



joiced more at Burgoyne's defeat at Saratoga than 
did Lafayette. Shortly afterward he received a let- 
ter from Paris which delighted his generous heart. 

' He hastened to Washington, 
threw his arms around the 
surprised commanders neck, 
and exclaimed : " The king 
of France acknowledges the 
independence of America, 
and has determined upon 
armed interference in your 
behalf ! " In the shouts of 
joy from the weary soldiers 
at this good news, there was 
plenty of cheering for Lafay- 
ette as well as for his king. 

In the battle at Monmouth, 
New Jersey, which Washing- 
ton won in spite of the great- 
est difficulties, the Frenchman's conduct was heroic, 
and called forth high praise from his commander. 

But it was in the last campaign of the war, the 
siege that ended in the surrender of Cornwallis at 
Yorktown, that Lafayette most distinguished him- 
self. For months he had been pressed by Corn- 
wallis, who had been chased across North Carolina 
by that splendid little army under Greene. At 
last Cornwallis intrenched himself at Yorktown. 
"Now," said he, "the boy cannot escape me." But 




Lafayette Monument, 
Washington, D.C. 



GILBERT MOTIER DE LAFAYETTE 361 

fate had decreed that Cornwallis should not escape 
" the boy." 

Very skillfully had Lafayette aided in forcing 
Cornwallis into this trap, and with equal skill he 
held him there until Washington had time to bring 
his army of American and French troops down 
from New York. Then, with the help of the French 
squadron in Chesapeake Bay, Washington forced 
Cornwallis to surrender. 

When Lafayette returned home after peace was 
declared, he carried with him the love and gratitude 
of every American. He had left France followed 
by the anger of his family and king, but now that he 
came back a distinguished general, a close friend of 
Washington, and loved by the American nation, his 
countrymen showered honors upon him. 

Throughout the remainder of his life, Lafayette 
devoted himself to the cause of liberty in his native 
country. But he was destined to suffer much ; for 
his high ideals of patriotism and liberty were mis- 
understood. He even languished for years in 
prison, but before his death he was once more hon- 
ored at home as he deserved to be. 

When he was an old man, he came again to the 
country for which he had so nobly given his youth- 
ful services. At the grave of Washington tears 
streamed down his cheeks as he recalled all that 
Washington's love and trust had meant to him. 
Greene, Marion, Morgan, and Schuyler were all dead ; 



362 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

Lafayette was the only living major general of the 
Revolution. He had the pleasure of meeting some 
of the old soldiers who fought under him, and they 
were overjoyed to see their commander again. 

Lafayette visited all the largest American cities 
and was received everywhere with greetings of 
welcome and affection. As a token of appreciation, 
Congress voted him two hundred thousand dollars 
and a large tract of land in Florida, and when he 
was ready to return, ordered that a new frigate, 
named the Bra7idywine in his honor, should carry 
him to France. He died in Paris ten years later. 
This country will never forget its debt of gratitude 
to Lafayette and to his fellow-countrymen, who on 
land and sea aided the Americans to win the victory 
in the Revolutionary War. 

Things to Remember 

Lafayette was a young French nobleman, who gave up a Hfe of 
luxury to help America in her struggle for liberty. 

He was one of Washington's most trusted officers and a close 
personal friend. 

He cut off the retreat of CornwaUis from Yorktown and held 
him in the trap until Washington's army arrived from the north. 

Then, with the aid of the French squadron in Chesapeake Bay, 
the Americans forced CornwaUis to surrender. 



PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 



5. as in fate 
a as ill hat 
a as in father 
a as in. tall 
ii as in care 
a as in soa 

c as in we 
e as in yet 



KEY 

e as in her 

1 as in fine 
i as in tin 

6 as in tone 
as in hot 
6 as in orb 

00 as in soon 



66 as tTi foot 

ii as in tune 
u as in hut 
11 as in burr 

ou as ^■?^. out 
oi as in oil 

n as ny 



Albemarle, al'be-marl. 
Algonquin, al-gon'kin. 
Alleghany, al'e-ga-ni. 
Andr^, an'dra. 
Annapolis, an-nap'o-lis. 
Arkansas, ar'kan-sa. 
Armada, ar-ma'da. 
Americas Vespucius, a-mer'i-ciis 
ves-pu'shus. 

Bahama, ba-ha'ma. 

Balboa, bal-bo'a. 

Bobadilla, bo-ba-del'ya. 

Bonne Homme Richard, bon 6m re- 

shar'. 
Burgoyne, bfir-goin'. 

Cabot, kab'ot. 

Canonchet, ka-non'tchet. 

Canonicus, ka-non'i-ciis. 

Cartier, kar-tya'. 

Castile, kas-tel'. 

Cathay, kath-a'. 

Cayuga, ka-yoo'ga. 

Ceylon, si-16n'. 

Champlain, sham-plau'. 

Chesapeake, tches'a-pek. 

Chickahominy, tchik-a-hom'i-ni. 



Coligny, ko-len-ye'. 
Cornwallis, korn-wal'is. 
Cortez, kor'tez. 
Cr^vecoeur, krav-ker. 

Darien, da're-en. 
Duquesne, doo-kan'. 

Eutaw, ii'ta. 

Faneuil, fun 'el. 

Fernando de Soto, fer-nan'do da 

so'to. 
Flamborough, flam'bo-ro. 
Frontenac, fron-te-nak'. 

Gaspe, gas-pa'. 
Genoa, jen'6-wa. 
Guiana, ghi-a'na. 
Guinea, gin'e. 

Hayti, ha'ti. 
Herkimer, her'ki-mer, 
Hochelaga, hok-e-la'ga. 
Huguenot, hu'ghe-not. 

Illinois, il-i-noi'. 
Iroquois, ir'6-kwa. 



Z^Z 



364 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Jacques, zhak. 
Jean, zhan. 
Jogues, zhogh. 
Joliet, zho-lya'. 

Labrador, lab'ra-dor. 
Lafayette, la-fa-yet'. 
La Salle, la-sal'. 
Le Boeuf, le bef . 
Leif, lif . 
Leyden, li'deii. 
Louisiana, loo-e-zi-a'na. 

Magellan, ma-jel'an. 
Marquette, mar-kef, 
Massasoit, mas-a-soit'. 
Matagorda, mat-a-gor'da.. 
McCrea, ma-kra'. 
Michigan, mish'i-gan. 
Minuit, min'06-it. 
Missouri, mis-oo'ri. 
Mobile, mo-bel'. 
Montana, mon-ta'na. 
Montcalm, mont'kam'. 
Montreal, mon-tri-al'. 

Narragansett, nar-a-gau'set. 
Narvaez, nar-va'eth. 
Newfoundland, noo'fund-land, 
Miia, nen'ya. 
Nottinghamshire, not'ing-em-slier. 

Oglethorpe, ogl'thorp. 
Oneida, o-ni'da. 
Oriskany, or-is'kan-i. 
Oswego, 6s-we'go. 

Palos, pa'los. 
Pamlico, pam'li-ko. 
Panama, pan-a-mah'. 
Pecksuot, peck'su-6t. 
Philippine, fil'i-pen. 



Pineda, pe-na'da. 
Pinta, pen'ta. 
Pizarro, pe-za'ro. 
Plymouth, plim'uth, 
Pocahontas, po-ka-hon'tas. 
Ponce de Leon, pon-tha da la-on. 
Potomac, p6-to'mac, 
Powhatan, pow-ha-tan'. 
Presque Isle, pres kel'. 

Quebec, kwe-bek'. 

Raleigh, ra'li. 
Ribault, re-bo'. 
Richelieu, re-she-lu'. 
Roanoke, ro'a-nok. 

St. Augustine, sant a'gus-ten. 
St. Croix, sant kroi'. 
St. Leger, sant lej'er. 
Savannah, sa-van'a. 
Schenectady, ske-nek'ta-di. 
Schuyler, ski'ler. 
Schuylkill, skool'kil. 
Sebastian, se-bas'ti-an. 
Seneca, sen'e-ka. 
Shackamaxon, shak-a-mak'son. 
Staten, stat'en, 

Steuben, stti'ben ; German pronun- 
ciation, stoi'ben. 
Stuyvesant, stT've-sant. 
Swansea, swon'se. 

Ticonderoga, ti-kon-de-ro'ga. 
Toscanelli, tos-ka-nel'li. 

Valparaiso, val-pa-ri'zo. 
Venango, ve-nan'go. 
Verrazano, var-ra-tsa'no. 

Wampanoag, wam 'pa-nog. 
Warwick, war'ik. 



INDEX 



Acadia, 136, 140. 

Adams, John, 259, 296. 

Adams, Samuel, life of, 264, 283. 

Albany, 118, 219, 316, 324. 

"Albany Plan," 220. 

Alexandria, 291. 

Alfred, 345. 

Algonquins, 138, 

Alleghany Mountains, 226, 289. 

Allegheny River, 226, 289. 

Amboy, 214. 

America, discovery by Columbus, 

12 ; why so named, 19. 
Americus Vespucius, 18, 19. 
Amherst, General, 241. 
Andr6, Major, 305. 
Annapolis, 355. 
Arabia, 33. 
Arkansas River, 144. 
Armada, 47, 49, 56. 
Arnold, Benedict, treason of, 305, 

323, 325. 
Atlantic Ocean, called "Sea of 

Darkness," 4. 
Augusta, Ga., 333. 
Avalon, 158. 
Aztecs, 21. 

Bacon, Nathaniel, life of, 200-209. 
"Bacon's Laws," 209. 
" Bacon's Rebellion," 209. 
Bahama Islands, 12, 345. 
Balboa, 23, 24, 43. 
Baltimore, founded and named, 164, 
Baltimore, life of first Lord, 157- 
159 ; life of second Lord, 159-166. 
Beacon Hill, 103. 



Bemis Heights, battle of, 325. 
Bennington, battle of, 321. 
Berkeley, William, 201-209. 
Bermuda Islands, 346, 365. 
Bobadilla, 17. 
Boston, founding of, 103. 
Boston, resents England's tax, 258. 
Boston Common, 266. 
Boston Massacre, 266, 267. 
Boston Tea Party, 270. 
Braddock, 229 ; his defeat, 231, 293. 
Bradford, Governor, 93-97. 
Brandywine, battle of, 303, 359. 
Brandywine, frigate, 362. 
Brookfield, 194. 
Brooklyn, 300. 

Bunker Hill, battle of, 277-278. 
Burgesses, House of, 69, 205, 253. 
Burgoyne, General, 316 ; his defeat, 
317-326. 

Cabot, John, life of, 32-38. 

Cabot, Sebastian, 33, 35, 38. 

California, 30, 44. 

Calvert, see Baltimore. 

Cambridge, Mass., 296. 

Camden, battle of, 334. 

Canada, explored and settled by 
French, 131-155 ; conquered by 
English, 225-248 ; 316, 324. 

Canary Islands, 10. 

Canonchet, 196. 

Canonicus, 93. 

Cape Cod, 89, 114. 

Cape Fear, 62. 

Cape of Good Hope, 24, 45. 

Cape Verde Islands, 129. 



365 



366 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Capital, established at New York, 310. 

Carteret, Sir George, 126, 127. 

Cartier, Jacques, 131-133. 

Carver, John, 90. 

Catawba River, 338. 

Catholics in Maryland, 158-166. 

Cayugas, 139. 

Chadd's Ford, 359. 

Champlain, Lake, discovered and 

named, 138. 
Champlain, Samuel de, life of, 129, 

141. 
Charles I, King of England, 99, 159, 

208. 
Charles II, King of England, 123, 

172, 208. 
Charles V, King of Spain, 26. 
Charleston, 184, 340. 
Charlestown, 102, 107. 
Chesapeake Bay, 62 ; explored by 

Lord Baltimore, 160, 361. 
Chicago River, 152. 
Chickahominy River, explored, 64. 
Church, Captain Benjamin, 197. 
Circumnavigation of globe, first, 24 ; 

second, 45. 
Claiborne, William, 161. 
Clinton, General, 308. 
Clinton, Sir Henry, 333. 
Coligny, 134. 

Colonial Congress at Albany, 219. 
Columbus, life of, 2-19 ; discovers 

America, 12 ; later voyages, 14- 

18, 30, 31, 33. 
Concord, battle of, 276. 
Congress, 250. 
Congress, First Continental, 258, 

272; Second Continental, 261, 

273; Provincial, 272. 
Constitution of the United States, 

223, 309. 
Continental Congress, 221. 
Convention, Federal, 309. 
Corn wall is, Lord, 306-308. 



Cortez, 21^ 24. 
Cowpens, battle of, 337. 
" Cradle of Liberty," 264. 
Cr^vecoeur, Fort, 148. 
Croatoan, q6. 
Cuba, 20, 26, 247. 

Dan River, 338, 339. 

Dare, Virginia, 65. 

Darien, Isthmus of, 23. 

Dawes, William, 274. 

Declaration of Independence, 221, 

280. 
Deerfield, 194. 
Delaware, 182. 
Delaware River, 120, 172, 174, 177, 

301. 
Delft Haven, 87. 
Division of New World by Pope, 

129. 
Dorchester Heights, 298. 
Drake, Francis, life of, 39-49. 
Dunmore, Lord, 260, 346. 
Dutch in New Netherland, 110-128 ; 

surrender of New Netherland to 

English, 124. 
Dutch East India Company, 111. 
Dutch West India Company, 124. 
Duxbury, 97. 

East Indian Islands, 12, 24. 

East River, 300. 

Eliot, John, 191. 

Elizabeth, Queen of England, 39- 

49, 50-59. 
Endicott, John, 100. 
English driven out of Boston, 297- 

299. 
English Navigators, 33, 39, 51, 60. 
Erie, Lake, explored, 147. 
Eutaw Springs, battle of, 340. 

Fairfax, Lord, 287, 288, 308. 
Faneuil Hall, 264. 



INDEX 



367 



Federal Convention, 309. 

Ferdinand and Isabella, King and 
Queen of Spain, 8, 9, 16, 17, 18, 
31. 

Ferguson, Major, 334. 

Financial difficulties after Revolu- 
tion, 310-311. 

First Continental Congress, 258, 
272. 

Fislce, John, 313. 

"Five Nations," 139, 155. 

Flag, American, first hoisted, 322 ; 
first carried across Atlantic, 347. 

Flainborough Head, 353. 

Florida, discovery of, 22, 25 ; con- 
quest of, 2(3-30 ; purchased by- 
England from Spain, 247. 

Fort Amsterdam, 118. 

Fort Cr^vecceur, 148. 

Fort Duquesne, 228, 235, 290, 293. 

Fort Edward, 318, 319, 320. 

Fort Frontenac, 146, 235. 

Fort Nassau, 118, 345. 

Fort Necessity, 229, 291. 

Fort Orange, 118. 

Fort Pitt, 235, 293. 

Fort St. Louis, 153. 

Fort Stanwix, 323. 

Fort Ticonderoga, 233, 297, 316. 

Fort William Henry, 232. 

Fox River, 143. 

France, alliance with, 304 ; surren- 
ders American possessions to 
England, 247. 

Francis I, King of France, 130, 

Franklin, Benjamin, life of, 210- 
224 ; " Poor Richard's Almanac," 
217; discoveries in electricity, 
218, 219 ; 265, 280, 304, 309. 

French and Indian War, 288. 

French navigators, 130, 131, 135, 
145. 

Frontenac, Governor of Canada, 
146. 



Fry, Colonel, 290. 
Fundy, Bay of, explored, 136. 
Fur trade in America, 118, 137, 
140. 

Gage, General, 273, 279. 

Gates, General, 324, 333, 334. 

General Court, 106, 107. 

Genoa, 4, 5, 33. 

George II, King of England, 181, 

182, 241. 
George III, King of Great Britain, 

250, 256, 258, 278. 
Georgia, founding of, 180-188, 341. 
German troops in British service, 

317. 
Germantown, 303. 
Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 51. 
Goffe, William, 194. 
Golden Hind, 44, 45. 
Great Meadows, 228, 290. 
Green Bay, 143, 144. 
Greene, Nathanael, 306, 330-341. 
Griffin, 147. 
Groton, 194. 
Guilford, 338 ; battle of, 340. 

Hadley, 194. 

Half Moon, 112-118. 

Halifax, 299. 

Hancock, John, 272, 273, 280. 

Harvard College, founding of, 125. 

Harvard, John, 107. 

Havana, 26. 

Hawkins, John, 40, 48. 

Hayti, 16, 20. 

Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, 

160. 
Henry IV, King of France, 135. 
Henry VII, King of England, 33. 
Henry, Patrick,"life of, 249-263. 
Herkimer, General, 322. 
Hessians, see German troops. 
Hochelaga, 132. 



S6^ FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Holland, refuge for Pilgrims, 86. 

House of Burgesses, 253. 

Houses of Dutch, 121. 

Houses of Pilgrims, 95. 

Houses of Virginia and Maryland 

planters, 164. 
Howe, General, 298, 316. 
Hudson Bay, explored, 116. 
Hudson, Henry, life of, 110-118. 
Hudson River, discovery of, 113; 

explored, 114, 300, 316. 
Huguenots, 134. 
Huron, Lake, discovery of, 138 ; 

explored, 147. 
Hurons, 137. 
Hutchinson, Governor, 267. 

Illinois, 145. 

Illinois River, 144, 152. 

Incas, 21. 

India, 5, 7, 112. 

Indians, 12, 21 ; appearance and 
manner of life, 71-82 ; treaty with 
Pilgrims, 93 ; famous treaty with 
William Penn, 174 ; war with 
New England colonists, 193-198, 
289, 320. 

Iroquois, 127, 138. 

Isabella, Queen of Spain, 8, 9, 16, 
17, 18, 31. 

James I, King of England, 62, 79, 
85, 99. 

James River, how named, 62 ; 114. 

Jamestown, founding of, 60-70 ; first 
legislative body in America meets 
at, 69 ; destroyed by lire, 207. 

Jesuit missionaries, 142. 

John, King of Portugal, 8. 

Johnson, Sir William, 232. 

"Join or die," 219. 

Joliet, 143. 

Jones, John Paul, life of, 342-355. 

Joques, Father, 143. 



Keith, Sir William, 215. 

Kent Island, 162. 

King Philip's W^ar, 189-199. 

Kings Mountain, battle of, 335, 336. 

Kingston, on Lake Ontario, 146. 

Kingston, Rhode Island, 194. 

Knox, General, 297. 

Labrador, 34, 36. 

Lacrosse, 75. 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 306, 347 ; 

life of, 356-362. 
Lake Champlain, 316. 
Lake Ontario, 316, 
La Salle, Robert de, li€e of, 142, 155. 
Le Bceuf, 2«9. 

Lee, Major Henry, 296, 337. 
Lexington, battle of, 274, 275, 368. 
Line of demarcation, 129. 
London Company, 62, 87. 
Longfellow, 296. 
Long Island, battle of, 300. 
Long Wharf, Boston, 266. 
Louis XIV, King of France, 146, 

153. 
Louis XVI, King of France, 349. 
Louisiana, claimed for France by 

La Salle, 152. 
Louisburg, 234. 
Louisville, 145. 

McCrea, Jenny, 320. 

Mackinac, 150. 

Mackinac, Strait of, 143. 

Magellan, enters and names Pacific 
Ocean, 23 ; one of his ships sails 
around the world, 24, 43. 

Magellan, Strait of, 22, 43. 

Malay Islands, 41. 

Manhattan Island, 117, 119. 

Manufactures forbidden in Ameri- 
can colonies, 256. 

Mariner's Compass, 3. 

Marion, General, 306, 334. 



INDEX 



369 



Marlborough, 194. 

Marquette, 143. 

Maryland, founding of, 157-166 ; 

dispute over boundary line, 166. 
Mason and Dixon's Line, 166. 
Massachusetts, 100 ; founding of 

colony, 101. 
Massachusetts Assembly, 266. 
Massachusetts Bay Company, 101. 
Massasoit, 92, 93, 95. 
Matagorda Bay, 154. 
Mayflower, 87-92, 101. 
Mayflower Compact, 90. 
Medfield, 194. 

Mexico, Conquest of, 20, 21, 
Mexico, Gulf of, 152, 153, 154. 
Michigan, Lake, explored, 143, 147, 

148, 150. 
Minuit, Peter, 119. 
Mississippi River, first discovery of, 

25 ; explored, 28 ; description of, 

28 ; discovered by French, 143 ; 

explored by La Salle, 145, 289. 
Mississippi Valley, claimed for 

France, 152. 
Missouri River, 144. 
Mobile Bay, 28. 
Mohawk River, 316. 
Mohawks, 139. 
Monmouth, battle of, .360. 
Monongahela River, 226, 289. 
Montcalm, Louis, life of, 225-238. 
Montreal, how named, 132 ; found- 
ing of, 142, 316. 
Morgan, Daniel, 296, 325, 337. 
Morris, Robert, 302, 303. 
Mount Hope, 197. 
Mount Vernon, how named, 286 ; 

becomes George Washington's 

home, 291. 
Mulberry Grove, 341. 

Narragansetts, 93, 195. 
Narvaez, 25. 



Navy in Revolution, 342. 

Necessity, Fort, 228. 

New Albion, 44. 

New Amsterdam, 124. 

Newcastle, 172. 

Newfoundland, 34 ; fisheries at, 36, 
105, 140. 

New France, 146, 238. 

New Jersey, how named, 127 ; set- 
tled by Quakers, 169, 171 ; 316. 

New Netherland, surrendered to 
English, 124. 

New Orleans, 247. 

New York, how named, 124, 126, 
316. 

New York City, chosen national cap- 
ital, 310. 

Niagara, 146. 

Nichols, Colonel, 123. 

Nina, 10, 14. 

North Carolina, 54, 59. 

Northmen, 71. 

Northwest Passage, search for, 7- 
18, 33-36, 111-116, 132, 143, 145. 

Oglethorpe, James, life of, 180-188. 

Ohio Company, 226. 

Ohio River, discovered by La Salle, 

145; 226; 290. 
Oneidas, 139. 
Onondagas, 139. 
Ontario, Lake, discovery of, 138; 

explored, 145 ; 231. 
Orange, Fort, 117. 
Oregon, 44. 
Oriskany, battle of, 322. 



Pacific Ocean, discovery of, 23, 

43. 
Palos, 9, 14. 

Panama, Isthmus of, 42, 135. 
Parker, Captain, 274. 
Parliament, 240. 



370 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



"Parson's Cause," 253. 

Pecksuot, 94. 

Penn, William, life of, 167-179. 

Pennsylvania, founding of, 172. 

Philadelphia, 117 ; named and set- 
tled, 173 ; 258, 299. 

Philip II, King of Spain, 39-47. 

Philippine Islands, 24, 247. 

Pilgrims, 83-97. 

Pineda, 25. 

Pinta, 10, 13, 14. 

Pitcairn, Major, 274. 

Pitt, William, 235, 239, 240, 256, 
327. 

Pizarro, 21, 24. 

Plains of Abraham, 235, 244. 

Plymouth Colony, 90-97. 

Pocahontas, 06, 71-82. 

Ponce de Leon, 21, 25. 

"Poor Richard's Almanac," 217, 
349. 

Porto Rico, 16, 20, 22. 

Port Royal, 136. 

Portsmouth, N.H., 347. 

Portugal, 2, 4, 8, 20. 

Portuguese Navigators, 4, 20. 

Potatoes, introduced into England, 
57. 

Potomac River, 62, 161. 

Powhatan, 65, 77, 79. 

Prescott, Colonel, 278. 

Presque Isle, 289. 

Prince Henry of Portugal, 4, 6, 7. 

Princeton, battle of, 302. 

Providence, 346. 

Provincetown, 89. 

Provincial Congress, 272. 

Puritans, 98-109. 

Quakers, 161 ; religion, manners, 
and customs, 167-169 ; founding 
of Pennsylvania by, 167-179. 

Quebec, founding of, 136-141 ; cap- 
tured by English, 137, 246. 



Raleigh, Sir Walter, life of, 50-59. 

Banger, 347. 

Read, Deborah, 215, 216. 

Representative government, 251, 

Revere, Paul, 274. 

Ribault, Jean, 134. 

Richelieu Island, 139. 

Roanoke, colony, 54. 

Rolfe, John, 79, 80, 81 

Roxbury, 105, 274. 

Russia, 354. 

Sackett's Harbor, 333. 

Salem, founding of, 100. 

Salisbury, 339. 

Samoset, 92. 

San Domingo, 16, 18. 

San Francisco, 44. 

San Salvador, 12, 14. 

Santa Maria, 10, 13. 

Saratoga, 320 ; battle of, 325. 

Savannah, founding of, 184 ; 333. 

Savannah River, explored, 184. 

Schenectady, 328. 

Schools, 107, 164, 202. 

Schuyler, Philip, life of, 315-329. 

Schuylkill River, 172. 

Scrooby, 169. 

" Sea of Darkness," 4. 

Second Continental Congress, 261, 

273. 
Senecas, 139. 
Separatists, 85. 
Serapis, 351-353. 
Shackamaxon, 174. 
Shipbuilding, 105, 120. 
Silk thread, production of, 186. 
Skraelings, 89. 
Slavery, 41, 80. 
Smith, Captain John, life of, 60-70» 

84. 
"Sons of Liberty," 265. 
Soto, Fernando de, life of, 20-31. 
South America, discoverv of, 16, 18. 



INDEX 



371 



Southampton, 87, 88. 

South Carolina, 182, 187, 333, 340. 

Spain, 2, 8, 10, 18, 20, 46. 

Spanish navigators, 20, 26. 

Spartanburg, 337. 

Squanto, 92, 93. 

Stamp Act, 250. 

Standish, Miles, life of, 83-97. 

Stark, John, 321. 

Staten Island, 300. 

Steuben, Baron von, 304. 

Stillwater, 325. 

Studley, 252. 

Stuyvesant, Peter, life of, 119-128. 

St. Augustine, 22, 30. 

St. Clair, General, 318. 

St. John's Church, Ricliraond, 259. 

St. John's Kiver, founding of colony 

on, 134, 316. 
St. Lawrence, Gulf of, how named, 

131. 
St. Lawrence River, 131. 
St. Leger, Colonel, 316, 323, 324. 
St. Louis, 153. 
St. Mary's, 161. 
Swansea, 193. 
Swedes, in Pennsylvania, 172. 

Tampa Bay, 26. 

Tarleton, General, 337. 

Taxation of colonies, 250, 258. 

Tea ships, 270. 

Texas, 154. 

Thanksgiving Day, first celebration 

of, 95. 
Three Rivers, 139. 
Ticonderoga, first battle, 138 ; great 

battle, 233. 
Tobacco, introduced into England, 

57 ; cultivation in America, 80 ; 

used in payment of bills, 164. 
Tomachichi, 186. 
Tonty, Henri de, 146-154. 
Tories, 254, 346. 



Toscanelli, 5, 7. 

Town meetings, 106. 

Treaties, with England at Paris, 309. 

Treaty, Indian, with Pilgrims, 93 ; 
with William Penn, 174; between 
United States and France, 223. 

Trenton, battle of, 302. 

Tri-mountain, 103. 

Trinity River, 154. 

Turks, 4, 61, 354. 

United States, 223, 248. 
University of Pennsylvania, founded 
by Benjamin Franklin, 218. 

Valladolid, 18. 

Valley Forge, 304, 327. 

Valparaiso, 44. 

Van Rensselaer, Killian, 122, 315. 

Venango, 289. 

Venice, 4, 33. 

Verrazano, 130. 

Vespucius, Americus, 18, 19. 

Vinland, 7. 

Virginia, 54 ; first settled, 60-70 ; 
revolt against England's govern- 
ment, 200-209. 

Virginia Company, 158. 

Wampanoags, 92, 190. 

Wampum, 73, 174. 

War, French and Indian, 239. 

Washington p]lm, 296. 

Washington, George, journey 
through wilderness, 227, 289 ; 
with ''Braddock, 230; 284-314; 
appointed to command Conti- 
nental army, 296 ; captures Bos- 
ton, 297-299 ; retreat from Long 
Island, 300 ; victories at Trenton 
and Princeton, 302 ; President of 
United States, 310; death, 312. 

Washington, Lawrence, 285, 286, 
291. 



372 FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



Washington, William, 337. 
Watertown, founding of, 105. 
Webster, Daniel, 328. 
Wesley, John, 186. 
West Indies, 30, 105. 
White, Captain John, 54. 
Wicaco, 173. 

William Henry, Eort, 232. 
Williams, Koger, 105. 
Williamsburg, Va., 261. 



Wilmington, 340. 

Winslow, Governor, 195. 

Winthrop, John, life of, 98-109. 

Wisconsin, 143. 

Wolfe, James, life of, 239-284. 

York, Duke of, 123. 
Yorktown, captured by Washington, 
306-308, 360. 



JAN 28 1911 



> 






-^ 

>^ 

o 
o 

<D 

O 




MAP OF THE 
UNITED STATES 

AND ITS POSSESSIONS 



100 200 300 400 500 



L F 



» (^ A, tV\ A \ NOTE: The maps of Hawaii, Samoa, Guam and 

'sSv I ^ake Ia..same scale as map of Philippine Islands. 




